A Simple Request
by WolfTotem64
Summary: After Japan expressed interest in England's magic, England grudgingly agreed to allow the axis to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But when strange things start occurring, will they be able to help the golden trio save the school, and keep their identities safe at the same time? No romance, can't write it. Rated T for possible violence later on.
1. Prologue

**Blech, I'm writing this so I don't feel like I'm writing depressing death scenes all the time like in my HgXAPH crossover. No matter, I'll work on both diligently, and hopefully they will both be awesome. This is just a prologue, so it's short. But hopefully my chapters will be longer.**

"England, I have something I want to ask you,"

England looked up from his paperwork, and smiled as he recognised Japan.

"Japan! Of course my friend, ask away!" he smiled encouragingly.

"It's about your magical community," Japan began, "I find the concept of your magic interesting, and I wanted to know if there was anywhere where I could learn about it."

England thought for a while, then beamed at Japan, it was nice to know someone cared about his magic.

"Well, there is the wizarding school in Scotland, Hogwarts," he hesitated, "but you'd have to be a child to attend…"

Japan stood in silence, and England squirmed a little. Though he and Japan had been friends for a while now, but it was still hard to tell what he was thinking.

"You have a large amount of magical power, don't you England?" England flinched at the sudden question.

"Well, of course, my magical community is quite large, so I do have a large quantity of magical capabilities. Why do you ask?" Japan looked away and realization struck England, "you wish to attend Hogwarts?"

Japan hesitated, then nodded slowly. England paused, a little unsure.

"I guess it would be easy for me to change your physical appearance to one of a child's, but you're still a nation. If anyone were to find out…" he trailed off.

"Please, I'll stay quiet, but I really want to know what your magic is like. I can imagine it is different to my own!" Japan pleaded.

England sighed reluctantly, "I'm not sure this is really a good idea…"

"Don't worry, I'll bring Germany and Italy, they'll keep an eye on me!" Japan said.

England stared at Japan sceptically, "more likely you'll be having to keep an eye on them."

Japan winced and looked away, "never mind, it was just an idea…"

England sighed. He was going to regret this.

"I guess it may be good to teach Italy something useful for a change, and maybe it'll show Germany I've mostly forgiven him for the whole world war two thing…" England said.

Japan looked up hopefully.

"R-really? You think so?" he smiled a little, which was pretty rare, "thank you, I'll make sure I do something useful for you sometime in the future."

He bowed and left.

England watched the door close behind him, he got the feeling this was going to be a long and stressful year.

**Note: I'm not good at writing accents, so use your imagination okay ^_^**


	2. Chapter 1: Diagon Alley

**Wow… so many follows just from the prologue. Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed, I'll try make this story as awesome as possible. ^_^**

**Warrior Chickenz: May the imagination be with you as I write the story :3**

**Zantetsuken Reverse: First year. And yeah I'll listen to suggestion if they're reasonable. Thanks for the accents, I'll try.**

"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to therecord shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.

For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this - can this be -?"

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still, the silence broken only by the arrival of four strangers. This break in the silence was enough to set the crowd off.

"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor."

He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out.

Hagrid was beaming.

Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.

"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."

One of the strangers who had just arrived bounded up towards him with a huge smile on his face. He shook Harry's hand enthusiastically.

"Veh~ I have no idea who you are, but everyone is shaking your hand so I thought I might try it!" he said.

"Feli you _dummkopf_, get back here," a blond haired boy grabbed the stranger by the collar and dragged him, whining, back to their group.

Harry studied them for a while. There were three boys who looked about his age, being talked to in hushed tones by another, taller man who was wearing a hood that shadowed his face. When he was done, they all turned to look at Harry, admiration in their eyes.

Harry, embarrassed, looked away. His hand was immediately seized by another well-wisher. While he was shaking it, the strangers slipped away into the courtyard.

**#########**

"You bloody moron Feliciano, I told you to stay inconspicuous!" England chided the now child sized Italy.

"B-but everyone else was doing it!" Feliciano cried.

Ludwig sighed and walked towards the wall.

"So vhy are we here?" he asked, examining the wall.

"Ah, well we need to get your school supplies in Diagon Alley," England said.

"Vell, I don't see any alley here, I just see a vall." Ludwig stated, looking around the courtyard.

England smirked, and pulled out a wand. Ludwig raised an eyebrow sceptically, but said nothing. England strode with purpose to the wall, and tapped it.

They all blinked as the wall began to move by it's own free will, turning until before them was a very crowded street.

"_S-suegoee" _Japan spoke up for the first time since he had arrived.

England gestured at the street proudly.

"This, my friends, is Diagon Alley," he announced, beaming at the shocked faces of his companions.

They stepped through the archway that the wall had become, into the bustling street. Colourful stores lined the streets, selling things none of them had ever seen before.

"I think we ought to get you a wand first," said England thoughtfully, looking around at the many stores.

He spotted the one he was looking for and dragged the axis towards it.

It was a very narrow, very shabby store.

The faded sign above the entrance read:

Ollivander: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

England smiled at them enthusiastically, and led them into the store. Thousands of narrow boxes, that were stacked with extreme care, were lined neatly around the store.

Ludwig kept a hand of Feliciano's shoulder to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

"Mr Ollivander," England called.

"Good morning sir, what can I do for you?"

The axis jumped as an old man appeared from behind a stack of wands.

"I need wands, I have three children who will be attending Hogwarts this year," England explained, gesturing towards the axis.

Ollivander studied them closely, then grabbed a box of the shelf and handed it to Feliciano.

"9 inches, ivy with a dragon heartstring core. Give it a swish," Ollivander explained.

Feliciano barely had time to move his hand, before Ollivander snatched the wand out of it muttering, "no, no not that one."

It took five more times of Ollivander handing Feliciano a wand, then snatching it back again. Finally he handed Feliciano a faded green box.

"10 inches, Unicorn tail, rosewood, nice and supple."

Feliciano gulped and gave the wand a wave. Immediately, he felt a warmth spread through him, starting from his finger and spreading throughout his entire body.

"This is almost as good as eating pasta!" Feliciano exclaimed, looking at the wand in wonder.

England laughed.

**##############**

They left the store in good spirits. Ludwig with an eleven inch mahogany wand with a dragon heartstring at it's core. Kiku with a nine inch cherry wand using a unicorn's tail hair.

They had great fun poking around in the bookstore, and Feliciano had fun looking at the potions books, which he insisted were recipes. England was in a good mood, so he got a few books for Italy.

Japan was very interested in all the cats in the Magical Menagerie, so after much pleading and promising on his part. Kiku soon walked away with a black cat purring in his arms and a smug look on his face.

Ludwg got a quill made from the feather of an eagle, which he seemed pretty happy with.

As they sat down to get some ice-cream, most of their school supplies already bought, England proposed that they should visit Madam Malkin's next to get their robes. They all agreed, and once Italy had finished his third ice-cream, England set off towards the store.

"Hello dearies, I'll be with you in a moment, if you would take a seat, and the three of you come stand up here on these stools." A squat witch appeared from around the counter with a smile on her face. England took a seat while she fussed over the axis.

"Please stop moving your arms while you speak dear, it's hard to pin the robes when you do," she told Feliciano, who stopped talking so that he could keep his arms still.

Ludwig shook his head, but smiled at the Italian's antics. Kiku remained silent, looking thoughtfully out the window at the busy street outside.

"All done," Malkin smiled at them, and they got of the stools, and England paid for their robes while they waited outside.

"Veh~ Thanks for convincing Arthur to let us come, this is fun!" Feliciano smiled at Kiku, who nodded in return. England emerged from the store holding their new robes in his arms.

"Come along then, we need to go now, I need to get to the world conference, it's bad enough that the three of you won't be there, and I dare not tell anyone were you are. Knowing him, Alfred will probably demand to go too, and that would be a disaster," he smiled, and left them with instructions to stay at the leaky cauldron, and not to wander out into diagon alley alone.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow, when the conference is over. Then you will be staying at my place for the remainder of the month," he informed them while getting into the car, "Ludwig, Kiku keep an eye on Feliciano while I'm away."

Then he drove off, leaving the three nations smiling at his back.

They went back into the leaky cauldron and ordered some food. While they were eating, Feliciano noticed Hagrid and Harry sitting nearby. He poked Ludwig in the arm and gestured to them.

Hagrid was explaining something to Harry in hushed tones, Ludwig leaned closer so as he might be able to hear what they were saying. But the crowded bar meant he only caught snatches of their conversation.

"Everyone thinks I'm special...Quirrell… I don't know what happened with Vol….."

Ludwig frowned and glanced over at Kiku to see if he had heard too. Vol?

Ludwig shook his head and resolved to ask England about it when he got back.

Harry and Hagrid stood up to leave; Ludwig quickly turned away, and started up a conversation with Feliciano. Harry gave them a curios look, but followed Hagrid out the door. Ludwig breathed a sigh of relief and watched him go. Yes it was going to be a very interesting year indeed.


	3. Chapter 2: The Hogwarts Express

**Yay! Got it done! I'm sorry for any spelling errors and such (especially with my Romanji). Thank you to everyone who has faved/followed and reviewed. I'm too lazy now, but I'll get around to responding to the reviews ASAP!**

**Enjoy ^_^**

"So, we just valk through this wall?" Ludwig raised an eyebrow sceptically.

The axis were standing on a crowded London platform, Kiku was reading out the instructions that Arthur had left for them

"H-hai. It doesn't make much sense; do we need to tap it with our wands or something?" Kiku looked at the piece of paper from a few different angles.

"-packed with muggles of course." The trio turned to see a family of what they assumed were wizards.

There were four boys and a young girl all with very red hair, being talked to by a rather cheery looking plump woman. They arrived at the brick pillar.

The mother turned to them, "are you waiting for anyone dears?" she asked politely.

"No, we vere just trying to figure out…" Ludwig began.

"How to get onto the platform? It's easy, you just walk straight ahead through that wall." she finished.

"I guess Arthur was telling us the truth then…" Kiku shoved the piece of paper into his pocket then looked the wall up and down.

"If you'd like you can watch Percy go first," she suggested.

"Veh~ thank you nice lady!" Feliciano stepped back and allowed the oldest of the boys to pass.

The boy marched in a rather business man like way, then disappeared through the wall. Ludwig blinked, obviously shocked.

"Look, Ludwig, It's that glasses boy!" an exclamation from Feliciano caused Ludwig to turn.

Sure enough, he saw the boy with the messy black hair and glasses, watching the family go through the barrier.

"He's obviously has the same problem as us…" Ludwig muttered.

The plump woman turned back to the axis.

"You ought to go now, try going in before Fred," she smiled.

"Feliciano, why don't you go first," Kiku suggested.

Feliciano shivered, "But it's scary! What if I run into the wall? It would hurt!"

Ludwig shook his head, then pretended to squint past Feliciano, "It looks like Arthur's coming, he's brought his army and they look mad."

The effect was immediate.

Feliciano ran through the barrier, arms flailing around his head. They watched him approach, Ludwig blinked and he was gone.

" I think we should follow, he'll freak out if he gets alone for too long," commented Kiku quietly.

Ludwig sighed and pushed his trolley towards the barrier, Kiku following close behind him. Suddenly, the muggle station was gone, and was replaced by a crowded platform, students with their trolleys were being fussed over by their parents. A sign over head read 'Hogwarts express, eleven O' clock'

Feliciano was standing in front of them, looking rather lost, but he brightened up when he caught sight of them.

"Hey you guys, isn't this cool! I thought I was going to crash into the wall, so I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was here!" he waved his arms enthusiastically and beckoned for them to join them

A scarlet stream engine was waiting with doors open by the platform. Ludwig tried to take everything in at once. Kiku was stroking his cat and gazing at the train in wonder.

"I hope they have good food on board~" Feliciano commented.

**##############**

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.

Harry nodded.

"Oh -well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got - you know..."

He pointed at Harry's forehead.

Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.

"So that's where You-Know-Who

"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."

"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.

"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.

The compartment door slid open, and a tall German boy, who Harry recognised as the one who he had seen at the Leaky Cauldron, walked in.

"Do you mind if ve sit here?" He asked.

"Sure," replied Harry, moving over to make room.

Three boys filed into the room and sat.

"I'm Ludwig… Beilschmidit," he frowned for a second, as if he didn't like his last name, then held out his hand, "isht good to meet you."

Harry accepted the handshake.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter, and this is Ron Weasley," Harry introduced, Ron waved.

"Veh~ I'm Feliciano Vargas!" The cheery Italian who had shaken Harry's hand smiled and introduced himself.

Harry turned to the short Asian boy who was sitting in the corner. He nodded vaguely.

"I am Kiku Honda," he said.

Harry turned back to Ron.

"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.

"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."

"So you must know loads of magic already."

The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.

"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"

"Horrible -well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."

"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff - I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.

"I don't see anything wrong with hand-me-downs." Ludwig commented, "I got a lot of things from my older brother Gilbert."

"You have a brother?" asked Harry, interested, "is he going here too?"

"Nein," replied Ludwig, "He lives abroad."

Harry nodded then turned to Ron.

"See there's nothing wrong with getting things from your siblings," he said pointedly.

Ron shrugged,

"And, until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort"

Ron gasped.

"What?" said Harry.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people -"

Feliciano tilted his head, "What's wrong with saying a name? I can say it too! Listen! Voldemort!"

Ron flinched as if he had been stung by a bee, and Ludwig shot Feliciano a glare.

"C-can we just stick to saying you-know-who?" Ron asked.

Feliciano shrugged, "whatever you say~"

While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said,

"Anything off the cart, dears?"

Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Feliciano nodded eagerly, and poked Ludwig, who sighed and gave him a few coins. Harry went out into the corridor, followed by a very happy Feliciano.

The cart was filled with a variety of sweets and pastries that neither Harry nor Feliciano had ever seen before. Harry, not wanting miss anything, got some of everything and paid the woman eleven sickles and seven bronze knuts. Feliciano, who was practically drooling, got even more, and was so eager to eat, that he gave the woman a galleon and told her to keep the change.

Ludwig groaned as Feliciano walked back into the compartment, arms filled with all sorts of foods.

"I told you, only get something you know you're going to eat," he scolded as Feliciano sat and dumped his food on the seat.

"Veh~ But everything looked so good, and I didn't know what any of it was!" Feliciano explained, grabbing a liquorice wand and gingerly bit into it.

"Not as good as pasta, but it's still delicious!" Feli beamed ad Ludwig smiled a little, taking a cauldron cake.

Harry convinced Ron to take some food, and soon, Ron was eating as heartily as Feliciano. (The sandwiches lay forgotten)

"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.

"They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.

"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know - Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect - famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.

"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.

"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa - thanks

Harry turned over his card and read:

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.

"He's gone!"

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you want it? You can start collecting."

"Veh~ look! Its Lovi!" Feliciano said startled.

"Vhat? Let me look at that!" Ludwig exclaimed, grabbing the card off Feliciano.

Sure enough a familiar scowling face stared back up at him

"Oh, that Lovino Vargas guy, I've got about two of him. He's rather rare," Ron commented while opening another chocolate frog, "It's weird, he's got almost no information on his card."

He looked up at Feliciano, who had taken the card back from Ludwig, and was looking at it.

"Come to mention it, you're last name is Vargas too isn't it Feli, and you look awfully similar," Ron said.

Ludwig elbowed Feliciano to make sure he didn't say anything stupid.

"Veh… he is my… relative," Feliciano muttered.

Ron raised a questioning eyebrow but said nothing, continuing to open packets of chocolate frogs.

"What are these?" a quiet voice startled Harry.

He looked over in the direction of the voice to see the short Asian boy, Kiku, holding up a packet which read: 'Betie Bott's every flavor beans.

"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Kiku, "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor - you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger flavored one once."

Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.

"Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."

Kiku nodded, and placed the box back on the chair, where Feliciano immediately snatched it up and ate one.

"PASTAAAAA!" he exclaimed happily, causing Ron and Harry to laugh.

The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and a round-faced boy who Harry had passed on platform nine and three quarters came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..."

He left.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

"Scabbers is you rat ja?" asked Ludwig, Ron nodded.

The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."

He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway..."

He had just raised his 'wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er - all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fastasleep.

Ludwig sighed, the spell sounded as crazy as one of Arthur's chants, no wonder it didn't work.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard -

I've learned all our course books by heart; of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

She said all this very fast.

Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Feliciano Vargas, veh~"

"Ludwig Beilschmidit," Ludwig pointed at Kiku, "and he's Honda Kiku."

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"Are you really?" said Hermione, "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.

"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You five had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

Kiku frowned a little,

"That's imporite," he shook his head, "impolite."

He corrected himself with obvious difficulty.

Ron glared moodily at him. Harry was desperate to change the subject and cheer Ron up.

"So what house are your brothers in?" he asked.

"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again, the opposite effect to what Harry had wanted his question to induce, "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"

Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."

"Trying to rob Gringotts? Vhat kind of idiot would do that?" Ludwig exclaimed, remembering what Arthur had told him about the security there.

"Who knows?" Ron shrugged, "They don't think they managed to take anything, but they still haven't caught the culprit yet. And… well there have been rumours that You-Know-Who was behind it."

Feliciano cocked his head.

"But I thought you said he was dead," He said confused.

Ron shrugged and was about to answer, when the compartment door opened again.

A pale boy who vaguely resembled Ludwig slinked in, followed by two others.

Harry recognised him as the boy who he had talked to in Madam Malkin's.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

He turned to see Feliciano cowering behind Ludwig. He curled his lip in disgust before turning to Harry.

"You'll soon come to see that some wizarding families are much better than others…" Ludwig cut him off.

"If you're referring to Feli, then I think it is my duty to inform you that he is from a distinct line of Italian wizards," he said threateningly.

Malfoy stopped and turned his attention to Ludwig.

"And you are?" he asked coldly.

"Ludwig," replied Ludwig flatly.

Malfoy snickered and returned his cold gaze to Harry.

"As I said, you don't want to be making the wrong choices when it comes to, 'friends'" Malfoy said the word as if the thought did not at all appeal to him, "I can help you there."

He held out his hand to shake Harry's but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks" he said coolly.

Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Nazi, and it'll rub off on you."

Both Harry and Ron stood up. Ludwig closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Suddenly, Malfoy found himself pinned up against the wall, piercing blue eyes staring into his own.

"I think it would be vise for you to not call me that again," hissed Ludwig menacingly, "unless of course you vant to have your pretty face smashed into your skull"

Ludwig released Malfoy and sat back down coldly in his seat. Malfoy shivered.

"Y-you'd better watch yourselves, when my father hears about this!" he stammered.

In a single movement, Draco Malfoy left the compartment, Crabbe and Goyle trailing nervously after him.

"Ludwig…" muttered Feliciano.

"Shut up."

Ron and Harry exchanged a glance.

The compartment door slid open again, and the bushy haired Hermione Granger entered.

"What has been going on?" she asked haughtily, taking in the cold atmosphere and the mess of sweets that had been flung off the chair when Ron and Harry had stood. She looked at the stony Ludwig.

"Never mind, don't answer that I don't want to know." she decided, then turning to Ron and Harry she added, "You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there."

"Would you mind leaving while we change?" said Ron grumpily, scowling at Hermione.

"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"

Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. Harry heard Kiku breathe a sigh of relief.

He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. The others just pulled their robes over their current clothes.

Ron's robes were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Kiku flinched at the statement, and reluctantly placed a black cat, which neither Harry nor Ron had noticed he had been holding, into a basket and placed it carefully with the rest of his luggage.

Harry's stomach cramped with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale beneath his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the leftover sweets and joined the crowd thronging in the corridor. Ludwig, Feliciano and Kiku hesitated before leaving, but exited the compartment just as the train slowed down and arrived at a station. The doors opened, and people pushed their way through them onto a small dark platform. The night air was chilly and Harry shivered. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and Harry heard a familiar voice.

"Firs' years, Fir's years over here! Alright there Harry?"

Hagrid beamed at Harry who smiled back. Harry realised he hadn't seen Feliciano, Kiku or Ludwig since he had exited the train. He glanced around but all he saw was Ron. He sighed and shook his head. They were probably somewhere in the crowd.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

The first years followed Hagrid down a steep and narrow path. Nobody really spoke much, but above the silence, Harry heard Neville sniffle. Somewhere behind him he heard someone mutter something about Pasta, and guessed it was Feliciano.

Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. Harry saw his friends from the compartment enter another boat nearby

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. Not even Feliciano made a sound, he was silenced by awe. The castle towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle

door.

**Blech, sorry for using the dialogue from the book so much! I'll try use original content more often, but it gets hard with all the important plot line thingies and all T_T Anyway I hoped you enjoyed it! I'll try update soon!**


	4. Chapter 3: The Sorting

**I.. Did.. It.. Blech, now I'm tired… Anyway, I'll try and update again ASAP. Enjoy ^_^**

The door swung open at once, startling the students. A tall witch with back hair and emerald green robes. She had a stern face that scared Feliciano, who was now trembling behind Ludwig who sighed in frustration.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall" said Hagrid.

" Thank you Hagrid, I'll take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Arthur's house in it (his human one anyway). The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Where they could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

"Scary…" muttered Feliciano, poking his head out from behind Ludwig.

"How do you think they sort us into houses?" Harry and Ron approached the axis.

"I'm not sure, I hope it isn't to hard for Feli…" Ludwig muttered.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." said Ron

Harry twitched, but only Kiku really noticed. The Japanese boy nodded reassuringly, though his face remained indifferent. Suddenly Kiku's face paled, and Harry heard several people scream.

"What the -?"

He gasped, as did Kiku. Ludwig looked nervous and Feliciano broke down into a blubbering mess.

About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded mutely. Ludwig muttered something along the lines of, 'thank god Alfred isn't here.'

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

The students formed a line and Harry found himself walking behind Feliciano and in front of Ron. They walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

None of them had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. If one looked upward they would see a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. Ludwig heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.

Ron nudged Harry and nodded towards the front of the room. Professor McGonagall was placing a four legged stool in front of the line of first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_if you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

"Veh~ Ludwig do you think I can become friends with the hat?" asked Feliciano enthusiastically, drawing a few laughs from surrounding students.

"_dummkopf _you can't become friends with a hat," muttered Ludwig, shaking his head.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause —

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Beilschmidit, Ludwig"

Ludwig walked stiffly up to the stool. He sat and gingerly placed the hat on his head.

The hat sifted through his thoughts an memories, trying to place him. But even it struggled. It felt the memories of thousands of people flow through it, memories of death and happiness, childhood and the elderly.

"You are not human am I correct?" the hat asked Ludwig.

Ludwig stiffened.

"Don't worry, you're secrets safe with me. Now where to place you? You have a thirst for power, but there is kindness too. You are as sharp as a knife, a good Ravenclaw. But I think what seems to me as your most important trait, is your bravery. You would die protecting your friends and you know the meaning of sacrifice. Yes I think the house that most suits you is, GRIFFINDOR!"

The hat shouted the last word and Ludwig got off the stool shakily, joining the ranks of cheering Gryffindors.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.

He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the

stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.

"Honda, Kiku"

Kiku nodded and walked up to the stool.

"Ah, another one. Yes you are not so different to your friend," said the hat inside his mind.

"You are very smart, I'll give you that, brave also. You've accepted many, but you seem to have a thirst for power. You've fought for it, killed for it and betrayed someone who considered you his brother. Though now, your hunger seems to have been quelled somewhat, and your want for power may now be for greater good. I think it may be good for you to be surrounded by ambitious people. Yes the place for you is - SLYTHERIN"

Kiku got off the stool, threw a nervous glance at Ludwig, then made his way over to the Slytherin table.

When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

There weren't many people left now. "Moon"… , "Nott"… , "Parkinson"… , then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"… , then "Perks, Sally-Anne"… , and then, at last —

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

Harry sat on the stool the hat covering his eyes. It appeared to Ludwig he was muttering something under his breath. It took a while, but the hat finally exclaimed, "GRYFFINDOR!" and Harry made his way over and sat next to Ludwig, who nodded at him. The Weasley twins had started up a chant, but Ludwig was busy paying attention to the sorting to notice them much.

Now there were only four people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously.

"Vargas, Feliciano"

Feliciano practically skipped up the stool and yanked the hat down on his head.

"Another one?" asked the hat in Feliciano's mind almost causing him to fall off the stool.

"Don't tell anyone! Ludwig and Arthur will be mad if you do!" said Feliciano in his mind.

"I do not tell the secrets of student's minds. I merely sort you, now let's see. Your pathetically weak, your intelligence isn't amazing, this would make you a perfect Hufflepuff."

"no! Please don't make me be on my own! If I get stuck there by myself, I'll die! Please don't make me go on my own!"

The hat was shocked, never before had it really encountered a mind quite like Feliciano's.

"Well, if you insist. Slytherin would be the last place l would put someone like you so it better be- GRYFFINDOR!"

Feliciano leapt off the stool, handing the hat to professor McGonagall, and ran over to Ludwig.

"Ludwig, Ludwig! Look I'm in your house! Now we can eat pasta together and make new friends!"

Despite himself, Ludwig laughed as the cheerful Italian sat between him and Harry, as the hat declared 'Zabini, Blaise ' a Slytherin.

Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Feliciano stared at his plate expectantly, hungry as usual. Ludwig tapped him on the shoulder then pointed at Professor Dumbledore, who was beginning to rise.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered.

"Is he — a bit mad?" Harry asked Percy uncertainly.

"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes?"

Ludwig blinked as the dishes in front of him filled with food. He was about to grab a few potatoes when something stopped him. He looked over at Feliciano, who also appeared a little hesitant. They were in England, which meant this food was…

"I can't eat this!" Feliciano exclaimed, appearing to be almost terrified of the food.

Ludwig saw Kiku at the Slytherin table was having the same problem. Poking nervously at some fish. Ludwig swallowed and decided to risk it. He took a single potato and began to mash it, Feliciano watching. He got a forkful and brought it up to his mouth and stared at it. Feliciano was trembling now, almost unable to watch. Ludwig closed his eyes and took a bite. It was good, so he took another.

"This is wunderbar!" He exclaimed, grabbing a few more potatoes, and some chicken.

Feliciano smiled happily, and piled food onto his plate. Ron laughed.

"Are you scared of English food or something?" he asked.

"Yes," Feliciano and Ludwig replied simultaneously.

Ron blinked and then shrugged, "each to their own I guess"

He then proceeded to collect large portions of food onto his plate.

The ghost with the ruff who had talked to them earlier floated down, and looked on, a little mournfully, as the students ate.

"That does look good," said the ghost sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak.

"Can't you —?"

"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you — you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"Zat doesn't make sense. How can one be nearly headless?" asked Ludwig, looking the ghost up and down sceptically.

Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.

"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge.

Feliciano squeaked and hid behind Ludwig, who looked a little sick.

"I-I see," Ludwig stuttered, "thank you for clearing it up…"

Pleased, Nick flipped his head back onto his neck and smiled.

"So — new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost."

Ludwig looked towards the Slytherin table and saw a rather terrifying ghost 'sitting' between Kiku and Malfoy. Kiku was trying to remain indifferent, while Malfoy looked much less then pleased with the seating arrangements. Ludwig huffed, served him right.

"How did he get covered in blood?" The sandy haired boy, Seamus asked with great interest.

"I've never asked," replied Sir Nick delicately.

When they had eaten as much as they could, the remains of food on the plate vanished, and were replaced by a variety of desserts. Feliciano once again began piling things onto his plate, though he carefully avoided the scones. While Ludwig placed a pudding on his plate, the talk at the Gryffindor table soon turned to their families.

"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

The others laughed.

"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.

"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me — he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned — but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced — all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here — they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."

Harry turned to Feliciano and Ludwig,

"How about you two?" he asked, "you're related to a famous wizard aren't you Feliciano."

Feliciano smiled brightly when everyone turned to him, obviously interested.

"Veh~ Lovino Vargas, apparently he's famous or something he's on one of those card things!" he announced.

"Lovino Vargas? He's the Italian wizard who became famous through his work on enchanting architecture isn't he?" said Hermoine, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and looking at Feliciano curiously, "apart from his achievements, not much is really known about him."

"Really? Well I didn't know he was a famous wizard until today," commented Feliciano.

"What about Ludwig?" asked Harry.

"Vell, I have a brother…" Ludwig began, "but Kiku, Feli and I have been staying with Arthur for the last month."

"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.

"What's wrong?" asked Percy.

"N-nothing."

Ludwig looked at him suspiciously.

"Who's that teacher speaking to Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked Percy.

"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to — everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."

Ludwig watched Harry stare at Snape for a while, then turned back to Feliciano.

After a while the desserts disappeared and Dumbledore stood.

"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

There was some scattered laughter, Feliciano glanced about nervously, then laughed too.

"Is he serious?" Ludwig heard Harry ask Percy.

"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere — the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

And the school bellowed:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot."

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Feliciano, Ludwig and Harry followed Percy and the other Gryffindor first years out of the hall. Ludwig caught sight of Kiku, who nodded at him, before being swept away by the other Slytherins. Ludwig sighed and hurried to catch up with Feliciano who was talking animatedly with Harry. Feliciano startled when the people in the portraits that covered the walls began to talk among themselves.

They climbed many staircases, and even Ludwig began to feel sleepy, when they came to a sudden halt.

A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.

"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves — show yourself."

A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.

"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"

There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.

"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"

He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.

"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.

Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.

"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

"Scary…" murmured Feliciano, clinging onto Ludwig, who sighed in irritation.

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it — Neville needed a leg up — and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase — they were obviously in one of the towers — they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up.

Feliciano immediately rushed to his trunk and opened it. A large array of potion books and pasta recipes spilled out.

"Dummkopf, did you have to pack all of them?" muttered Ludwig, opening his own, neatly packed, trunk.

"But I wanted to make pasta, and some cool potions to put it in! Veh~ you know, maybe I could invent a really cool pasta with this!"

Ludwig shook his head, and most of the boys in the dorm laughed.

Ludwig climbed into bed, and pulled the covers over himself. He wondered how Kiku was coping in the Slytherin dorm. He yawned, he was too tired to think about that right now. He closed his eyes, and fell into a restless sleep.


	5. Chapter 4: Potions

**Finally an update! I'm currently bogged down with assignments, so updates are a little slow. Also, I'm sorry for not personally replying to reviews yet, but I'm reading them I promise! **

Kiku stared quietly up at the canopy on his four poster bed. The curtains around him were drawn, but voices still filtered through. The older Slytherins were discussing the potential of the first years. Kiku heard his own name mentioned a few times, along with a few comments along the lines of 'Asian' or 'the Jap'.

He sighed and pulled himself out from under the covers. He couldn't be late, he still had to brief Ludwig and Feliciano on proper conduct and the importance of keeping their secret. The curtain that surrounded his bed was yanked open, and the pale faced boy who had insulted Ludwig and Harry stood smiling over Kiku.

"Kiku Honda, yes?" he drawled, "I'm Draco Malfoy, I believe we met on the train, you were in the same carriage as the Nazi."

Kiku frowned, obviously displeased with the way this Malfoy boy was throwing insults around.

"However, you're in Slytherin, so I can only guess you must be better than that trash," Malfoy continued.

"I don't think you should judge people by their house…" Kiku muttered quietly.

Malfoy shot him a glare.

"Well, I hope you'll soon come to your senses and realise the error in that statement, in the meantime," Malfoy offered Kiku a hand, "I think you'd make a useful _friend."_

Kiku didn't take Malfoy's hand, but nodded politely, sitting up a little. Malfoy sniffed and turned on his heel, leaving Kiku to ponder his offer. Kiku decided that deciding upon Malfoy's offer was currently of little importance and got out of bed.

The boys in the Slytherin dormitory were chatting with each other. Kiku received a few glances, but no one approached him. He pulled on his robes and walked sleepily into the common room. There were a few students milling about, but most were either still sleeping, or currently making their way down to the great hall for breakfast.

He thought about writing a report to Arthur, but decided he could do it after breakfast with the others. Kiku left the common room, and made his way through the winding passages that were the dungeons.

Finally, he found himself in the crowded entrance hall. He spotted Feliciano complaining to Ludwig, and made his way over.

"Kiku," Ludwig nodded at him as he approached.

"Veh~!" Kiku found himself being pulled into an embrace by Feliciano.

"A-ah, stop! You're invading my personal space!" cried Kiku, pushing Feliciano away and taking a few steps back.

"B-but I thought you might be lonely without us, because you're in a different house and all," Feliciano began to cry a little, and Kiku glanced awkwardly at Ludwig, who sighed.

"Come on Feli, we'd better get some breakfast," said Ludwig, pulling Feliciano into the great hall.

Kiku followed them in, then walked over to the Slytherin table. He sat at the edge of the table, and ate in silence. The great hall soon filled up as the late sleepers filed in.

Finishing early, Kiku rose from his seat, nodding subtly at Ludwig and Feliciano, who excused themselves and joined Kiku in the entrance hall.

"According to Arthur-san, there is an abandoned room on the third floor," said Kiku, reading off a piece of parchment, he looked up and set off, Ludwig and Feliciano trailing after him.

They found the room, and after making sure the door was locked and no one was listening in, they each took a seat.

"Neither of you have gotten into trouble I hope, I don't want Britain kicking us out when we've only just arrived," said Japan, "this place is so interesting."

"Ja, Italy was tired, so he fell asleep before he could cause trouble," Germany reported, "and no one is suspecting our identities."

Japan nodded.

"The food is much better than I expected, especially since it's English food!" announced Italy happily, "you should tell him in your report."

Germany shook his head and mumbled something under his breath, while Japan pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill.

"I think we should all write our own report, that way we won't argue on what to put on it," said Japan diplomatically.

Both Italy and Germany agreed this was a good idea.

"I think we should also schedule our meetings," said Germany, "that way, we vill not have to rely on signals."

"I think we should have them on Saturdays!" said Italy, eager to participate in the decision making.

"Ja, we all have a fair amount of free time then," agreed Germany.

Japan gave a nod of consent, and it was agreed that they would hold their meetings on a Saturday.

"I am finished with my part in the letter," announced Japan, passing the parchment and quill to Ludwig.

Once Germany and Italy had finished their letter, Japan read over it to make sure there wasn't anything in it that could give away their identities if the letter was intercepted.

_Dear Arthur-san_

_Both Ludwig and Feliciano have managed to stay out of trouble, though Ludwig had a small quarrel with a boy on the train. We met a boy named 'Harry Potter' on the train too; he seems famous, though I don't know anything about him. I was sorted into Slytherin by a talking hat._

_-Kiku Honda_

_Veh~! The food here is much better than yours even if it's English food! They didn't serve any pasta though, but it's okay, maybe I can convince the cooks to make some soon! I also found out fratello is a famous wizard! The potion book you got me are really cool, and I hope I can get time to make some soon! I am in Gryffindor but I have no idea what that means!_

_Work on your cooking!_

_Feliciano Vargas_

_Arthur_

_Everything is good, Feli seems to be relatively under control. There was an inconvenience on the train, though I doubt it will be too much of an issue to me in the future. Your magic is weird, I was sorted into Gryffindor by a hat._

_Ludwig._

Japan sighed and folded the sheet of parchment.

"It's good enough, we'd best get to class, England will not be very happy if he discovers we were late to our first class," said Japan, unlocking the door and leaving the room.

**###########**

Kiku had managed to get through most of the week with little trouble.

He had had transfiguration first, and it had easily become one of his favourite classes. After all, he had a teacher that could turn into a cat, what more could Kiku want?

Charms had been difficult, but proved to be extremely interesting.

History of magic had been dull, as it appeared that the teacher wasn't prepared to teach the class about anything other than the goblin wars.

Care of Magical creatures was also interesting, though they had only done theory work so far, their teacher had said they were going to get to see some of the creatures today, so Kiku got up early so he wouldn't be late for his first class of the day, ensuring he wouldn't be held back.

Sighing as he left the common room, Kiku glanced at his timetable. He brightened up a bit when he realised that he would be sharing double potions with Gryffindor.

He found Feliciano and Ludwig wandering up and down the staircases, obviously lost. Feliciano caught sight of Kiku and smiled.

"Veh~ Kiku!" Feliciano rushed towards Kiku, "Ludwig and I got lost so we've been wandering around trying to figure out how to get down from these staircases; it's really hard though, because they keep moving!"

Ludwig sighed and muttered something that Kiku couldn't quite manage to hear.

"Well potions is in the dungeons, same as the Slytherin common room, so I can probably show you the way down," Kiku said, causing Feliciano to smile even wider.

"Thank you Kiku! I was really worried I'd be late for potions, it sounds like cooking at cooking is fun!"

Kiku showed them the way down and informed Ludwig of the patterns of movements the staircases seemed to take. He didn't bother telling Feliciano, as he knew that the Italian would probably get even more confused, and end up doing something extremely dangerous.

They finally arrived at the classroom, where Feliciano spotted Harry and Ron, and waved eagerly at them. Harry smiled and waved back, beckoning for Feliciano and Ludwig to join them.

Kiku watched them go and sighed regretfully. He didn't dare approach the Gryffindor students on his own accord, he didn't want to get caught up in a quarrel based on house rivalry, but Feliciano was smiling cheerfully and waving him over. He took a few tentative steps and joined Ludwig and Feliciano. The red haired boy, Ron, shot him a glare, and even Harry looked a little awkward. Feliciano didn't seem to notice, and was happily chatting about potions.

"… and I hope we get to make a laugh-inducing potion! Then I could give some to Ludwig, and he wouldn't look so cranky all the time!"

Ludwig shook his head, smiling a little. Harry laughed nervously and Ron continued to glare at Kiku, who stared at the ground.

"Veh~ What's wrong?" asked Feliciano, finally noticing the tense atmosphere, "why'd you guys go all quiet?"

Before anyone could answer, the classroom door was opened, and their teacher walked in. Kiku hurried to a desk and got out his quill.

Their teacher, Professor Snape who Kiku recognised as head of Slytherin house, begun by calling the roll.

"Ah yes. Harry Potter, our new celebrity," Kiku flinched at the tone of his voice and glanced towards where Harry was seated with Ron. Snape gave Harry a look of loathing, then continued on with the roll.

"Feliciano Vargas?" Snape said, reading off Feliciano's name with a slightly raised eyebrow.

When Snape had finished, he placed the roll on his desk and looked up at the class with his black eyes.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word — like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

There was silence in the classroom as the students took in what Snape had said. A glance at Feliciano confirmed that the cheerful Italian was currently trembling a little.

"Potter!" the sudden exclamation caused Kiku to jump, "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Kiku watched as Harry squirmed uncomfortably in Snape's cold gaze.

"I don't know sir," he muttered.

"Tut, tut — fame clearly isn't everything." Snape turned his eyes on Feliciano.

"Vargas, tell me, where would one look if I told you to find a bezoar," Feliciano begun blubbering and exchanged a fearful glance with Ludwig.

"You can get them in the storage room," Snape narrowed his eyes and Feliciano gulped, "b-but they come from the stomach of a goat."

Mild surprise filled Snape's eyes for a moment, but he hid it well.

"Very well… Potter, tell me the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.

"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"

A few people laughed, but they were soon silenced by Snape's cold glare.

"For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."

Ludwig raised his hand into the air, glaring coldly at Snape.

"Beilschmidit," Snape said turning his eyes on the German.

"I hardly think it fair to punish Harry, how could he be expected to know any of zis!" Ludwig exclaimed.

"Your friend seemed able enough to answer my questions," Snape replied coolly, "I see no reason why Mr Potter couldn't do the same."

"I do not think zis is a fair reason to punish him," said Ludwig, rising from his seat and slamming a hand against the table.

"Ludwig-san…" Kiku mumbled.

"Mr Beilschmidit sit down, you will be seeing me after class," Snape said.

They paired up and Snape set them a task to cure boils. Feliciano was happily brewing his potion with Ludwig, who just passed him the materials he needed. Harry and Ron looked uncertain and kept glancing into Kiku and Malfoy's potion.

"Did you see that Beilschmidit? Some nerve he has, losing his temper like that," Malfoy drawled.

Kiku tried his hardest to ignore the boy and continue with his potion.

"I mean, he's such a Nazi, just look at him," Kiku looked up at Malfoy, no emotion visible in his brown eyes.

"Don't call him that Malfoy-san, he's been through a lot you know," Kiku reprimanded.

Malfoy gave Kiku a pained look.

"You are a strange one aren't you," he said, "fine, just pass the crushed snake fangs."

Kiku and Malfoy worked in silence after that. Snape swept through the classroom, find fault with almost everyone's potions. When he came to Feliciano's even he could find no fault with it. He gave Feli a curt nod then went to inspect Malfoy and Kiku's potion for the third time in the lesson. Before Snape could open his mouth to praise Malfoy's work, an acid green smoke began billowing from someone's cauldron, accompanied by a loud hissing sound. Kiku spun around to see a boy collapse on the ground, and the remnants of his potion beginning to spread across the floor. Following everyone else's example Kiku climbed up on his stool to avoid the leakage. He could see the cauldron which the potion had been brewed in had become a twisted blob of metal.

"Idiot boy!" Snarled Snape, making his way over to the whimpering boy on the ground, waving his wand aa he did so, and causing the potion on the floor to disappear, "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

The boy whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at his partner. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.

"You — Potter — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by an outraged cry from Ludwig.

"Zat is hardly fair! How could it be Harry's fault!"

Snape rounded on him.

"Another five points from Gryffindor, I suggest you learn to control that temper of yours."

Ludwig looked like he was going to charge the teacher, but Feliciano muttered something quickly in his ear and he calmed down a little.

Kiku snuck away from Malfoy, and went up to Feliciano and Ludwig.

"Ludwig-san, you're drawing too much attention to yourself," Kiku muttered, ignoring the dark looks he was receiving from Ron, "please learn to control your anger

"Fine, but I vill not let it go. Zat man is going to regret making an enemy of me," Kiku sighed, Ludwig could be so stubborn sometimes.

Ron, seeing Harry was looking a bit depressed tried to cheer him up.

"Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"

Harry smiled a little and nodded, then turned to Feliciano and Ludwig, ignoring Kiku.

"You two want to come?" he asked them.

"Veh~ of course!" Feliciano exclaimed, then looked nervously at Kiku, who shrugged, "we'll meet you at the entrance hall!"

**############**

"What are you doing here?" asked Ron, glaring at Kiku as he arrived with Ludwig and Feliciano.

"I-I just wanted to meet Hagrid too," Kiku blinked shocked by the ferocity in Ron's voice.

"Veh~ Ron, be nice to Kiku, he's our friend!" Feliciano whined.

"But he's in Slytherin!" exclaimed Ron," We can't trust him!"

"P-please I'm standing right here! It isn't kind to speak about someone as if they're not there," Kiku said, then blushed a little, "I'm sorry, I do not wish to be impolite, I'll leave if you want me too."

Harry shook his head, "No, it's okay. Stay, if Feli and Ludwig trust you, I see no reason why we can't."

Ron shot Harry a pained glance then sighed and mumbled a quick "fine"

Feliciano brightened up,

"Yay! Now we can all go to meet Harry's friend," He skipped out of the entrance hall, dragging Ludwig after him. Harry and Ron rushed after them and Kiku trailed them from a distance.

The group made their way across the grounds, heading towards a wooden hut located at the edge of the forbidden forest.

Harry got there first, as Feliciano had gotten distracted, so he knocked on the door.

There was a loud barking and a gruff voice rang out, "Back, Fang - Back"

The door opened a little to reveal a very, very large man with an extremely thick beard. Despite his somewhat imposing appearance, Kiku didn't find the man to be scary.

"'Allo 'Arry!" the giant said, "just wai' a moment,"

The door opened, and Hagrid ushered them inside.

"Make yerselves at home," he said, beaming at them, letting go of a massive hound, who immediately bounded over to them, licking their faces and scaring Feliciano.

"Waah! Ludwig help, he's attacking me, make it stop!" he cried as Fang's massive tongue licked his face.

"Vhat is your problem Feli?!" Ludwig exclaimed, causing both Harry and Ron to laugh.

"So 'Arry, who are yer friends?" asked Hagrid curiously as he poured boiling water into a kettle and began placing rock cakes on a plate.

"This is Ron," said Harry nudging his red-headed friend.

"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."

"I am Ludwig Beilschmidit," Ludwig nodded at Hargid, who raised an eyebrow.

"Veh~ I'm Feliciano Vargas!" Feli said, clearly haven gotten over being 'attacked' by fang.

"Vargas? Maybe you'd know something 'bout Lovino. Seems yer relative has dropped off the face of the earth," Hagrid said, looking at Feliciano curiously.

"Really? I saw Lovi about a week before I came to Hogwarts," Feli shrugged, "though I didn't know he was famous 'till I caught the train here."

Hagrid shrugged and decided not to continue the matter. He turned to Kiku, who was quietly stroking Fang's head.

"And you?"

"Kiku Honda," Kiku stood and bowed politely and Hagrid laughed.

Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.

"He doesn't mind me or Malfoy," mumbled Kiku quietly.

"Yeah, but that's because you're in his precious Slytherin house," said Ron sourly, earning a glare from Ludwig.

"Slytherin isn't that bad, Snape's just a little bias," replied Kiku, still not showing any signs of visible emotion.

"Vell, at least Snape didn't give me a formal detention," said Ludwig firmly, drawing the topic away from Slytherin, "

They sat in an awkward silence for a while. Hagrid broke it.

"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot — great with animals."

While the two discussed Charlie, Kiku watched as Harry picked up a piece of paper that appeared to be cut from a newspaper off the table.

"Hagrid!" Harry suddenly exclaimed, looking up from the piece of paper, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"

There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time. He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Kiku glanced at Feliciano and Ludwig as Harry read the article again. Why was Hagrid keeping information from Harry?

As they all walked back to the castle for dinner, the three nations glanced at each other.

There was going to be an early report to Arthur this week.

**TaDa! I hope this chapter isn't too bad. Don't worry there will be more interaction with other students as the story progresses . So yeah, keep reviewing it's really motivating and all! ^_^**

***teleports away in a massive explosion of Prussian style awesome***


	6. Chapter 5: Missing Nations?

**Chapter, Y U take so long to write!? Sorry this took so long, I've been busy and my procrastination hasn't been getting any better. The internet is way to tempting, I should probably turn it off while writing. Anyhow, thank you all for being patient, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Romano drummed his fingers against the table, glaring at the four empty chairs. His idiot brother had disappeared with the axis, and despite England telling them all that they were safe, Romano couldn't help but feel worried. The door opened and England burst in, red-faced and out of breath.

"Eyebrows! Where's my brother!?" asked Romano, standing and glaring at England as the blond haired nation took a seat.

"They're away," replied England bluntly, "that's all you need to kn…"

"Kesese! Away? The awesome me hasn't seen West for over a month, what's up with that?" Prussia interrupted.

"Japan has been missing too, I'm worried, aru!" Exclaimed China.

The meeting dissolved into chaos as countries rose to their feet, all of them demanding to know what had become of the axis.

"I want to know where they went so I can ask them to become one, da, "said Russia, smiling childishly at England.

"Ohonhonhon, maybe L'Angleterre is trying to keep them all to himself," France said smirking as England's face turned a light shade of red.

"What? I-I, you bloody frog!" England launched himself across the room and attacked France.

China mumbled something about western cultures being immature, much to the annoyance of America who was seated next to him. The two got into a heated debate, and Korea took advantage of China's distraction and grabbed him from behind.

"Your breasts belong to me, da-ze~!" he shouted gleefully.

China yelped and freed himself from Korea's grip, cursing in Chinese.

"Roma~ I brought tomatoes!" a cheerful voice distracted Romano from his anger.

"Spain, you bastard, you're late!" Romano spun around and found himself face to face with the cheery Spaniard.

"Have you gotten any news on your brother?" asked Spain, pulling absentmindedly on Romano's hair curl.

Roman stiffened and blushed.

"CHIGI! You bastard don't do that!" yelled Romano, hitting Spain in the arm and taking a few steps back.

Spain laughed, oblivious to Romano's anger, though he cradled his arm a little gingerly.

"Those bastards won't answer my questions," seethed Romano, pointedly glaring at England who was still fighting with France.

_Tap tap tap_

Romano blinked, was that an owl at the window?

_Tap tap tap_

Romano sighed and walked towards the window, and opened it. The owl ruffled its feathers in a dignified way, and Romano spotted a letter tied to its leg. He made to grab it, but the owl nipped him and flew over to England and waited patiently for him to untangle himself from France whom he had knocked out. Romano caught a quick glance of a familiar crest and his brother's messy scrawl as England tucked the note into his jacket. Romano frowned, that crest… Dammit so that's where they were!

He glared at England as he hastily left the room, leaving the chaos of the world meeting behind. Romano walked quietly over to his desk and pulled out a small red envelope. The eyebrow bastard wasn't the only one with a few magic tricks…

**###############**

"Veh~ we have flying lessons starting Today!" exclaimed Feliciano, pointing at a notice on the board in the Gryffindor common room.

Harry inspected the notice and felt his heart sink a little. They would be sharing their flying lessons with Slytherin. Harry had been looking forward to flying lessons more than anything else.

"Just what I wanted, to make a fool of myself on a broom in front of Malfoy," Harry groaned and Ludwig nodded sympathetically.

"You don't know you're going to make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably, "and I know how Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

"And if he bothers you, just tell me, ja?" Ludwig said, "I'll sort him out for you."

"I'm really excited! Arthur was telling me how fun flying is!" exclaimed Feliciano happily as the group climbed from the portrait hole and made their way down to the great hall for breakfast, "He said it's one of the best things about magic!"

Harry and Ron laughed at the Italian's enthusiasm, and Ludwig smiled a little.

When they arrived at the Gryffindor table, they found Hermione, telling everyone who would listen, about some flying tips she had found in a book named 'Quidditch through the ages'. She was telling them all about velocity and turning angles, when she was interrupted by the arrival of the mail. Harry sighed inwardly. He hadn't received any mail since Hagrid's note, and watched wistfully as the other students opened their letters and presents.

A great grey owl flew over Harry's head, dropping an envelope neatly addressed to both Ludwig and Feliciano. Ludwig took the note and put it in his pocket, giving Feliciano a meaningful glance.

Even Neville got a small package from his grandmother, and he tore the packaging excitedly, and pulled out a small glass ball that seemed to be filled with smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things — this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red — oh…" His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "… you've forgotten something…"

Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.

Harry, Ron and Ludwig jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.

"What's going on?"

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."

Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.

"Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

"Veh~ what's that owl over there doing?" asked Feliciano, pointing into the air.

They all looked up and saw a very confused looking spotted owl that seemed to be having trouble deciding whether to fly to the Gryffindor table, or the Slytherin. Tied to it's leg was a small envelope, that caused a few people, including Ron, to gasp when they saw it.

"That's a…" Ron was cut off, when the owl gave a frustrated screech and flew down to Feliciano and Ludwig.

Harry managed to catch a glimpse of the words, '_To my idiot brother, potato bastard and the other guy'_, before the envelope started smoking. A few people covered their ears as Ludwig gingerly picked the envelope up and begun to open it.

A loud German voice filled the hall, causing all the students to stare as the letter began to yell.

_"West! Where are you?! You haven't come to see your awesome brother for a month! Lovino said that he can send this letter to you, though he won't tell me where you are!"  
_Ludwig twitched, obviously irritated.

_"Kiku!" _A few eyes turned to look at Kiku where he sat, horrified, next to Malfoy at the Slytherin table.

_"Kiku you haven't shown up to any of the meetings, I'm worried, aru!" _This voice was much different to the first.

_"ANIKI!" _Kiku went pale and attempted to hide under table at this new voice, "_Your breasts belong to me! Da-ze!"_

There were a few nervous smatterings of laughter throughout the hall, and Kiku shivered from his hiding place under the table.

_"Hey dudes! Lovino told me I can talk to you through this red thing! Ahaha! You guys haven't shown up to any meetings in ages, and Iggy's being suspicious, what's going on?" _A loud and somewhat annoying American voice now silenced the laughing students, "_Don't worry, if he's captured you for some reason, you can count on the hero to save you!"_

Ludwig tried and failed to rip up the letter, as it floated, almost lazily, out of his reach and continued to talk, now with a French accent.

_"ohonhon~ the paperwork for your disappearance is too much for me!" _the letter produced an overdramatic sigh, _" I know Ludwig's still sore from me taking those two provinces, but the meeting are chaos without him! Tell him to come back at once!"_

Ludwig growled something in German under his breath and leapt across the table in an attempt to silence the letter. It didn't work and he found himself grabbing onto thin air, then falling ungracefully onto a plate of potatoes.

"_POTATO BASTARD WHY DID YOU TAKE MY IDIOT BROTHER?" _Feliciano brightened up when he heard this voice, even if it was yelling insults, "_Chigi! you bastards better not have done anything to him, I'll be there soon so I can take him back! Dammit, Antonio close the door Arthur's coming back"_

The letter emitted a few loud banging noises, then an English voice yelled, though not directed at anyone in the hall.

"_You bloody gits what do you think you're doing, Lovino don't you dare try to send thi…."_

The voice was cut off and the letter promptly caught fire and burnt itself to ash. There was silence in the hall, all eyes trained on Ludwig and Feliciano. Kiku was still shaking under the table, much to the amusement of a certain Malfoy.

"I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Your. Brother," Ludwig turned and left the great hall, Feliciano trailing after him.

Kiku's head appeared from under the table, and he stumbled to catch up to Feliciano and Ludwig. As soon as the trio had left the hall, the entire hall broke into laughter. Harry turned to Ron, who was still looking shocked.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron spluttered.

"I'm not sure, but I want to find out," replied Harry.

He looked over to the Slytherin table, to see Malfoy imitating Kiku's fear as he had hidden under the table, much to the amusement of his other housemates.

"I want to know what these 'meetings' that they kept mentioning are," the voice of Hermione distracted Harry, and he turned to her, "they seem dreadfully important."

"What about that Italian dude, he seemed pretty angry," commented Neville thoughtfully.

"Oh, the first man, the German, didn't he mention a Lovino, that must have been the Italian!" there was a buzz among the students who had heard this exclamation.

"Who is this Lovino? everyone keeps talking about him," asked Harry.

Hermione frowned thoughtfully.

"He's an Italian wizard, skilled in the art of potions and charms. They say he once made an entire town disappear using a simple spell. But apart from that, not much is known about him, there were may rumours that he had died during Voldemort's reign but that's obviously not the case…"

Harry blinked uncertainly. So Feli's brother really was famous.

The chatter in the great hall did not die down until Dumbledore finally stood and bid them good day. The students filed out of the hall and headed to their respective classes. Harry didn't see Ludwig or Feliciano until history of magic, and despite many students asking them, they walked away with more questions then they had originally intended to ask.

**##############**

"Veh~ Kiku!" Feliciano detached himself from the other Gryffindors, and ran over to Kiku, who was standing a fair distance away from the other Slytherins.

He skilfully dodged Feliciano's hug, and acknowledged the others with a nod.

"Are you okay?" asked Ludwig, flickering his eyes towards Malfoy, where the pale haired boy was muttering something to his 'friends' and nodding in Kiku's direction.

"I'm fine Ludwig-san," said Kiku, ignoring the jeers he was receiving from a few of his fellow housemates.

Ludwig opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the arrival of their flying instructor, a short haired and hawk eyed witch by the name of Madame Hooch.

"Well what are you all waiting for?" she barked in a military manner, "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up!"

The brooms where old and tatty. They had knobbly ends and twigs where sticking out at odd angles.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"UP" everyone shouted.

A few brooms jumped into their callers hands at once, Harry's included. He grinned and looked up at the rest of the class. Hermione Granger's broom was rolling about on the ground, while Ron's had sprung up and smacked him in the face. Ludwig was standing proudly, broom in hand, as was Kiku. Feliciano appeared to be begging his broom to obey him, but to no avail. Madame Hooch had to eventually head over to assist the blubbering Italian.

When she was done, she came around to each of them in turn to show them how to mount the broom without sliding off the end.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two —"

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

All heads turned up as they watched the terrified boy rise higher and higher into the air. There was a startled yell and Harry turned to see Kiku determinedly kick of the ground, his face still holding it's perpetual calm. Madame Hooch yelled at him to come down, but the young Slytherin ignored her.

Neville's broom begun to shoot up, and Kiku followed it, arms outstretched. Neville fell and Kiku managed to grab onto his cloak. But Kiku was a small boy, and Neville's weight was too much for him. Neville's fall slowed, then his weight overcame Kiku who tumbled off his broom.

Thud.

The two boys collapsed in a heap on the ground, and Madame Hooch rushed over to them.

"Broken wrist, you're lucky your fall was slowed or it could have been much worse," she said inspecting Neville's wrist, "it's the hospital wing for you. Now for you young man."

She turned on Kiku who, with the help of had managed to pull himself into a sitting position. Ludwig was helping him up.

"That was extremely dangerous, you could have hurt yourself or another student" she regarded Kiku with her yellow eyes.

"I-I am very sorry Hooch-san," Kiku bowed his head, and winced a little.

"However, you did save Longbottom from a potentially worse injury, I will award you five points to Slytherin house," Hooch continued.

Kiku looked up, surprise evident in his eyes.

"H-hai, thankyou!"

"Beilschmidit, help me take Honda and Longbottom to the hospital wing," she commanded before turning to the other students, "None of you is to move while I take these boys to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dears."

As soon as Madame Hooch was out of sight, Malfoy burst out in laughter

"Did you see his face, The fat lump?"

The other Slytherins joined in the laughter.

"Shut up Malfoy, Neville wasn't the only one to fall off his broom," snapped Parvati Patil.

"Sticking up for Longbottom are we?" teased Pansy Parkinson.

"Look!" Exclaimed Malfoy, bending over and picking something up out of the grass, "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch.

Malfoy smiled nastily.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find — how about — up a tree?"

"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"

"v-veh~ Malfoy give it back!" exclaimed Feliciano, who was trembling a little.

Harry shot a glance at Feliciano, then grabbed his broom.

"No!" shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move — you'll get us all into trouble."

Harry ignored her and mounted his broom. He rose into the air, the wind whipping about his hair. Feliciano watched him from the ground, flinging his arms around trying to get Harry to come down. Harry gritted his feet and confronted Malfoy in the air.

"Give it here," Harry yelled, "or I'll knock you off that broom."

"Oh yeah?" Malfoy sneered though his voice quavered a little.

Harry leaned forwards, and his broom shot off. Malfoy barely avoided him, and Harry heard him curse under his breath as he passed. Quite a few of the Gryffindors below applauded, and Harry grinned a little to himself.

Harry yelled what both he and Malfoy were thinking,

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save you Malfoy!"

Malfoy glared at Harry.

"Catch it if you can then," Malfoy threw the remembrall, then sped towards the ground.

Harry narrowed his eyes, then shot off after the small glass orb. He dove towards the grounds, hand outstretched. He caught it about a foot from the ground, with barely enough time to pull his broom up. He smiled and waved his arm above his head, still clutching the remembrall.

"HARRY POTTER!" Harry's smile vanished as the students parted to reveal Professor McGonagall striding across the field.

"Never — in all my time at Hogwarts —"

Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "— how dare you — might have broken your neck —"

"It wasn't his fault, Professor —"

"Be quiet, Miss Patil —"

"V-eh… He was just trying to_"

"Silence Mr. Vargas"

"But Malfoy —"

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."

Feliciano watched them go, he looked at Ron, who was glaring at Malfoy. Feliciano gulped and approached him.

"I-it'll be alright," he said, Ron sighed.

"Yeah, but that Malfoy git's going to get it if he keeps this up," Ron looked at Feliciano's scared face, "c'mon we'd best get to our next class."

Feliciano nodded and followed Ron from the grounds, he hoped Ludwig would come back soon…


	7. Chapter 6: Like, awesome!

**Hurray for updates! I'm going to do a sort question answer thing at the bottom, so if there is something you wanted to know, It'll hopefully be answered there.**

Ludwig made his way back to the dorms. Kiku had of course been fine, however after a fall like that, they had both known how suspicious it would be if he walked away without injury, so Kiku was forced to stay in the hospital wing for a night, pretending to have an injured ankle. Ludwig sighed; maybe this whole magic school thing wasn't worth it after all. Ludwig glanced out the window. It was dark out, that explained why none of the students were out and about. Ludwig picked up pace, he didn't want to get in trouble for staying up.

Someone turned around a corner and ran into him. Ludwig took a few steps back, apologising under his breath.

"That's like, so uncool bumping into me like that," Ludwig stiffened and his eyes widened.

He slowly looked up, taking in the green army uniform with its matching cape, and the straight blonde hair that reached the man's shoulders, and the green eyes that widened in recognition as they met Ludwig's blue ones.

"G-Germany? Like, what are you doing here?" Poland took a startled step back, before recovering his composure and placing his hands on his hips, "students shouldn't, like, be out of bed at this time.

"Vhat ze hell are you doing here?!" exclaimed Germany, his accent coming out stronger with his anger, "Vhy aren't you managing your country?"

Poland laughed and flicked his hair off his face," I could, like, ask the same of you. You haven't turned up to any meetings, and why do you like, look like a little kid?"

Germany glared pointedly at Poland, "I have permission to be here. And I am assuming by the vay you're sneaking around like a little _ratte,_ you do not."

Poland hesitated then sighed, though the grin still remained upon his face,

"You like, got me. I'll tell you why I'm here on one condition," Germany nodded slowly, unsure if he liked where this was going, "you like, gotta help me find something totally sweet in this castle."

Germany stared suspiciously at Poland, who held out one of his hands, keeping the other firmly placed on his hip.

"Fine, I vill help you."

Germany shook Poland's hand.

"I knew you would, I'm like, a psychic," Poland caught sight of Germany's glare and pouted, "You're so boring! Anyway, I'm looking for some stone, it has powers. It can even turn stuff to gold, like bam!"

Poland waved his hands around a little, trying to get his point across.

"There's stuff zat can actually turn things into gold? Vow…" Germany's mind wandered to his war debts. It would be a little easier to pay them off if he had something like this.

Poland seemed to guess what he was thinking, because his grin grew.

"Yeah, it's like totally cool. People can even become immortal with it, 'cuz it makes this like, magical elixir stuff. Though that doesn't really hold any use for us."

Germany stiffened.

"Don't talk about that so loud," he hissed, jabbing Poland in the arm, "actually, its best we stop talking about zis matter at all here. We need a more secluded area."

"Well, I've been like, hiding in the forbidden forest. It's so like, drab so I brightened it up a little at my shelter, now it's like, fabulous!" Poland bragged.

"Get to the point."

"Fine then, I was just thinking it was a good place for us to meet, after all it's not like there's anyone else living in the forest."

Germany thought for a moment. The forbidden forest was out of bounds for students. This was good because this meant no one would be there to listen in on them from the school. However, this also probably meant that the forest was dangerous, which wasn't too much of a problem for Japan and himself, but Italy? Germany shook his head. Maybe he could use it to help him stop being such a coward… Not likely, but worth a try.

"Fine. But I vill be bringing to comrades with me," Poland raised an eyebrow but said nothing, "I think that we can meet you on Thursday. I vill try and research about the stone at the library within that time."

Poland shrugged, "whatever, like, works I guess. I'd best go before someone notices my presence. It would like, suck if I got caught here."

Poland turned to leave, waving over his shoulder.

"See you, like, on Thursday. I'll meet you by the little boring shack thing!"

With that, the flamboyant nation was gone.

Ludwig sighed, he hoped that this was a good idea; this was Poland he was dealing with after all. He resolved to tell Kiku and Feliciano about this as soon as possible.

The portrait hole opened before Ludwig could say the password, revealing Harry, Ron and that Hermione girl. They seemed to be arguing about something. Harry caught sight of Ludwig, and the trio froze.

"Ah… Hi," the was an awkward silence, broken by another figure leaping from the portrait hole.

"Ludwig! I had a nightmare, why are you all down here, I tired, can I make pasta, I'm hungry too!" Ludwig clamped a hand down on Feliciano's mouth before he could make any more noise.

"Vhat are you three doing?" he asked Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"They're trying to go to a wizard duel. Ludwig, stop them, if they get caught, we'll lose house points!" Hermione explained.

Ludwig sighed and rubbed a hand against his head. He just wanted to get to sleep.

"We have to go! Imagine what Malfoy'll say if we're a no show!" Ron said.

"Ah. Malfoy…Vell zen I think you should go, you're not going to back down and surrender for zat _dummkopf_," Ludwig growled, his eyes darkening a little.

"But just in case you want to, I have a bunch of white flags if you want to surrender!" said Feliciano, pulling out about five white flags from who know where.

"Feli, vhat did I say about mass producing white flags?" Germany hit Feliciano on the head, though not hard enough to cause any real damage.

While Ludwig was lecturing Feliciano, Hermione turned to Ron and Harry.

"If you're going to be selfish and lose points for our house, so be it," she sniffed haughtily, and turned to the portrait of the fat lady, only to find herself staring at an empty frame.

"Now what am I going to do?" she cried.

Ron and Harry exchanged a glance.

"Your problem, we've got a duel to go to," said Ron.

"Veh~ what about Ludwig and I?" Feliciano asked, poking Harry softly in the arm.

"Uh, I guess you can come with us if you don't make too much noise," replied Harry, causing Feliciano's face to light up.

"_Grazie_! Now we can together as a group! I'll be the underling so you can order me around and I'll disappoint you!"

Ron and Harry deadpanned while Ludwig mumbled something to himself.

"T-there's no need to be the underling Feli," managed Harry.

"C'mon, we have to go now or we'll be late," said Ron suddenly, "If we're late Malfoy might think we've backed out or something."

"Well I'm coming with you," said Hermione.

"No you're not," snapped Ron starting to walk away.

The others, including Hermione, followed him.

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."

"You've got some nerve —" said Ron loudly.

"Pasta~!"

"Shut up, all of you!" said Harry sharply. "I heard something."

They all fell silent, listening closely.

"Mrs. Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.

It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours; I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."

He got up and smiled cheerfully at the group.

"Keep your voice down, the password is 'pig snout' but…" began Harry.

"But it's useless now, because the fat lady is not there," explained Ludwig.

"Veh~ is your arm okay?" asked Feliciano.

"Fine Madame Pomfrey mended it in about a minute, though she kept the other boy in. I don't know why…" Neville trailed off thoughtfully.

"Well, there's somewhere we need to be, so we need to get going…"

"D-don't leave me here!" cried Neville, "I don't want to stay on my own; the bloody baron has been past twice already!"

Harry sighed.

"Fine, you can come with us."

"But if you get us caught, I'll start practising my hexes on you," Ron warned him.

The group made it's way through the dark corridors, high windows allowing the moonlight to filter through. Despite Harry's worries, they managed to miraculously avoid seeing either Filch or Mrs. Norris. They arrived at the trophy room, and Ron glanced nervously down at his watch.

"He's late, maybe he chickened out…" he muttered.

Ludwig glanced about, something wasn't right about this whole duel, it was almost as if Malfoy was leading them into a….

"Meow"

They all froze as the voice of Filch came from the next room.

"Sniff around my sweet, they might still be lurking around a corner."

They stood, unsure of what to for a moment, when Ludwig's military instincts cut in. He gestured for the group to follow him, and made a bunch of complex hand signals which no one understood. They hurried out the door, Ron pulling Neville out, just in time too. Filch entered the room.

"This way!" Harry mouthed to the others and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armour.

The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.

"RUN!" someone yelled, Ludwig assumed it was Harry.

They didn't need to be told twice, the group ran, Feliciano ran a fair way ahead of the others, looking although he had just been offered scones baked by England. Ludwig sighed, why could Feli never run this fast when not in retreat?

Feliciano ripped through a tapestry and the others followed him. They found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.

"I —told — you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I — told — you."

Ludwig, who wasn't tired at all, muttered something sternly to Feliciano about something along the lines running fast when he wasn't in retreat, before turning to the others.

"Ve need to get back as soon as possible," he stated calmly.

"It was a trap…" said Hermione, "He tricked you. Malfoy was never going to turn up, and he probably tipped Filch off too…"

Ludwig hushed her, "let's settle this vhen we get back."

He began to walk off when a doorknob rattled, and something shot out of one of the classrooms before them.

"Peeves," hissed Ron.

Peeves caught sight of them, and squealed in delight.

"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves this was a big mistake.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

They ran, ducking swiftly under Peeves to the end of the corridor.

"Locked," growled Ludwig.

"This is the end!" moaned Ron.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open — they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening.

Peeves and Filch got into a heated argument, before Peeves finally gave one last cackle, before he left. They could hear Filch's stream of insult's following him. Eventually the corridor fell silent, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

There was a growl behind them and they all froze. Turning slowly, they found themselves face to face with three huge sets of mad eyes. The massive dog growled and pounced upon them, the others escaped out the door, but a huge paw blocked both Feliciano's and Ludwig's retreat.

"Feli! Ludwig!" cried Harry.

The dog turned it's attention to the two trapped boys and growled, saliva dripping from three sets of jaws. Feliciano cowered behind Ludwig trembling. The dog raised a paw and Ludwig was sent flying. He hit the ground with a thud, and tried to get back up. He was to slow, the dog approached him and the middle head opened it's jaws. There was a sudden movement in front of Ludwig, and he saw Feliciano standing in front of his, arms outstretched.

"Leave him alone," Feliciano's voice was quiet and cold, his brown eyes were open and he stared to beast down.

The dog hesitated and took a step back.

"I said, LEAVE HIM ALONE!" the dog whimpered and scampered away, leaving everyone to stare, shocked at Feliciano.

"Feli, I told you not to rely on_ that_ …" whispered Ludwig, getting up and limping over to Feliciano, who was shivering.

"V-ve, I'm sorry Lud, don't be mad…" Feliciano's eyes softened and he hugged Ludwig.

"W-what just happened?" stammered Ron to the other three as Ludwig, supported by Feliciano walked towards them.

"I have no idea," replied Harry.

Ludwig didn't meet their eyes as the two walked out the door, he merely mumbled, "c'mon let's go back…"

"W-what about your injuries?" asked Neville timidly.

"They'll be fine by morning, let's just go."

The group made their way silently back to the Gryffindor tower. The fat lady had returned by the time they arrived and they each made their way back to bed, with only a few solemn 'good nights'

Feliciano curled up in his bed. He hadn't meant to use that, even though that part wasn't as strong in him as it was in his brother, it was still powerful, and he didn't have complete control over it yet. No, despite all his attempts through the years, Italy Veneziano could never truly understand his mafia side.

**Yay! Poland and badass Mafia Italy in one chapter? That's like, awesome! Anyway, this chapter's a little short, sorry. Also, Poland is there because he's like, totes fab! I'm sorry, I just love Poland's character, he's fun to write and I needed someone there.**

**Q and A (sorry if I miss your wanted topic! Note that some topics are avoided so there are less spoilers)**

**Q: Are they going to beat up Malfoy?**

**A: You guys are mean D: but sure, just not now**

**Q: Ron, Y U NO like Kiku?**

**A: Because Ron has a distrust for Slytherins. I don't see Ron to be racist as such, he just doesn't really trust Kiku is all.**

**Q: Why are they OOC and a little childish?**

**A: Because I suck at characterisation! However, if you want real justification, just think of it as that when England changed them, while they did have the minds of adult mainly, a few teenage hormone stuffs were there too, so they get a little impulsive**

**Q: Iggy?**

**A: yes, though not directly**

**Q: Why do you write the accents weird?  
A: Because, I want it to seem that, while the accent is there, they do make an attempt to keep it away, however in situations like anger or embarrassment, it will slip into a stronger accent.**

**Q: Pairings?  
A: I'm not a romance writer, nor a yaoi fan as such. However, though it may not be the intention, the friendly fluff stuff there can be taken that way if you must. It's just not intended to be a romance fic, sorry!**


	8. Chapter 7: Dark Wizards and troll snot

**H-holy Roman Empire, over 100 followers . Eek, that was a little unexpected… well anyway, thanks all for bearing with me and my terribly slow updates, have another chapter**

"L-Ludwig-san, have you read the news?" Ludwig looked up from his breakfast, to see Kiku approaching the Gryffindor table, the daily prophet held in a shaky hand.

Ignoring the suspicious glares and hushed muttering, Kiku sat between Feliciano and Ludwig, placing the prophet on the table.

Ludwig had been discussing the dog with Feliciano, Harry and Ron. This morning, Hermione had said something about seeing a trapdoor after the dog had run off. Harry had told them about a grubby package that Hagrid had taken from gringotts, and they were currently trying to figure out if the dog was indeed guarding the said package.

"Veh~ Kiku you look a little flustered what's the matter?" Kiku opened the paper and pointed to an article on the third page.

"Read it," he said.

Ludwig's eyes widened and he read the short article out loud.

**"Wanted for questioning of Gringotts break in; Arthur Kirkland**

_Several eyewitnesses have claimed to have seen Kirkland in Diagon Alley on the day of the break in. Kirkland has had a reputation for dabbling in what is to believed to be dark magic, and is to be approached with caution. Any wizard or Witch with information on the whereabouts of Kirkland, is to report it immediately..."_

Ludwig trailed off, and turned to his friends

"Kirkland? Dad's told me about him," Ron commented, taking a bite out of his toast, "he's a mystery that bloke. The ministry claims he's a dark magic user, but there's a big fuss every time he's mentioned."

"Zat fool… only he could be a criminal in his own country…" Ludwig sighed and pressed a hand against his face.

"I-I think we should stop sending owls for now…" whispered Kiku.

"You know him?" asked Ron, "blimey, so what's he like?"

Feliciano answered before Ludwig could stop him,

"He's really scary and his cooking sucks, it's bland and tasteless it's the worst! And he's really strong too, but he was the one who told Kiku about this place and we..Mmpf"

Ludwig placed a hand over Feliciano's mouth and started lecturing him in hushed tones. Kiku sighed and tried to cover up for Feliciano's slip up,

"We all come from foreign famiry... Familys you see, and Asa-san said it would be good for our education to send us here. "

"You guys have to tell the ministry at once then!" said Hermione, Kiku paled a little.

"W-well, he's not that bad, and his magic isn't that dark," he swallowed, "but he was with us the whole time at Diagon Alley."

Hermione opened her mouth to lecture Kiku about all the reasons why Arthur should still be reported, when Ludwig hurried to save him.

"Ve all have to go somewhere… Now," he grabbed Feliciano and Kiku, and dragged them unceremoniously from the hall.

"I think it's best if we drop the subject of Arthur around the others for now…" he muttered when they were safely out of the hearing range of the hall.

Kiku and Feliciano nodded in agreement.

"Also, I have something else to say. Last night, when I vas returning to the common room, I bumped into Feliks..." Ludwig told them.

"V-veh, Feliks is here?" Feliciano exclaimed, "why?"

"He said he was looking for something here in the castle, and he told me to meet him near Hagrid's hut on Thursday after dark."

There was an exclamation from inside the hall, and they heard the words 'nimbus 200?' but they brushed it off.

"What was he looking for Ludwig-san?" asked Kiku.

"Some kind of magical object that can turn lead into gold and make mortals immortal by the use of a kind of elixir," explained Ludwig.

"Ve~ that sounds impressive! I wonder if it could turn me into gold too…" Feliciano trailed off, looking thoughtful.

The doors of the great hall opened and students started filing out to get ready for class. They saw a clump of Gryffindors surrounding Harry, who was holding some kind of broomstick. Ludwig sighed,

"I'll talk to you two more about zis later," he told Kiku, before he and Feliciano were swept away by the mass of Gryffindors making their way to the common rooms.

The Gryffindors made their way from the charms classroom, discussing the class in small groups. Professor Flitwick had been teaching them a simple levitating charm. Of course, not many in the class had managed to successfully complete the spell, and Flitwick had told them to practise in their spare time.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ron was telling the others, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. They caught sight of her face, and saw she was in tears.

"I think she heard you." Harry said.

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"You should not badmouth other people behinds zeir backs," growled Ludwig, startling Ron, "It vill lead to problems in the future."

Feliciano hesitated, gave Ron a strange look, then ran after Hermione.

"It would be easier if she wasn't so snobby all the time," muttered Ron, Ludwig sighed in irritation.

"Vell I wouldn't expect you to understand, you haven't been in the same situations I have…"

"Situations?" asked Harry curiously, Ludwig flinched.

"No matter, just… I'd better help Feli or he'll get lost," Ludwig walked stiffly after Feliciano, who seemed to have lost sight of Hermione.

"He's a strange one," commented Ron as Ludwig disappeared with the crowd, "we've got potions next…"

They made their way to the dungeons, where the Slytherins where already waiting. Hermione was nowhere in sight. Feliciano was talking to Ludwig and Kiku, who looked rather nervous. He whispered something to the other two. Whatever he had said caused Feliciano to smile and Ludwig to sigh.

Snape opened the classroom door and let them in. He made his way to the front of the class and fixed the students with his usual sneer.

"Before we begin, I will inform you that we will be having a guest in the classroom tomorrow," his gaze fell on Feliciano, who seemed to be radiating happiness and was uttering small 'veh, veh ,veh's, "I expect you to give him your utmost respect, as he is a respectable potion maker. Now for today's lesson…"

The lesson then proceeded as normal, with Feliciano exceeding in making Snape increasingly frustrated with his potion making, and Harry being the outlet for his anger.

"I hope we can make pasta in class soon!" exclaimed Feliciano as they left the classroom, drawing a few laughs before they all realised he was serious.

"Can you imagine Snape letting us make pasta?" asked Ron, before putting on accent that was half Snape, and half a very bad attempt of Feliciano's, "Today-a we will be exploring the dark and mysterious arts of-a pasta making!"

They all erupted into laughter, and even Kiku and Ludwig smiled a little. Ron seemed to have partially forgiven Kiku for being a Slytherin since he had tried to save Neville.

"I wonder who the guest speaker will be," said Harry thoughtfully, Feliciano, Ludwig and Kiku exchanged a glance.

"Well, Snape-sensei told us Slytherins before you arrived and…" Kiku began.

"But we can't tell you because it's a surprise!" said Feliciano cheerfully.

"Then why do you know?" asked Ron sceptically.

"Well, I thought it would only be right to tell Feli-san and warn Ludwig…" explained Kiku.

Ron raised an eyebrow, but didn't pursue the matter.

The day went by rather uneventfully after that, however Hermione wasn't seen for the remainder of the day.

Soon they all made their way to the great hall for the Halloween feast. When they entered the hall, there was a collective intake of breath.

The hall had been decorated for the event, and lit pumpkins had replaced the floating candles. Feliciano withdrew a little and walked behind Ludwig, looking at the decorations nervously. Kiku waved in farewell and walked over to the Slytherin table.

"Ve~ I hope the food is nice today!" exclaimed Feliciano cheerfully, sitting next to Ron, who was sitting next to Harry.

Ron and Harry merely nodded

"Vhat's the problem?" asked Ludwig, noticing the somewhat guilty look on Ron's face.

"On the way to the feast we overheard that Hermione was crying in the bathrooms," explained Harry, Ron just confirmed his story with another sheepish nod.

Ludwig sighed and muttered something under his breath.

The feast appeared upon the golden plates, distracting them.

"Just try and cheer up and enjoy they food, even if it's English food!" said Feliciano, placing a few stuffed tomatoes on his plate and smiling at them.

They took his advice and began piling food on their plates. About halfway through the feast however, when someone cried out, and they turned to see Professor Quirrell sprint in. All eyes followed him as he made his way to Dumbledore.

"Troll- in the dungeons, thought you ought to know," and so saying, collapsed.

The great hall, of course, erupted into panic. Feliciano, who had no idea what was happening, hid under the table, hugging Ludwig's leg. Ludwig was attempting to calm his panicked house mates, but was mostly ignored.

A few cracks and bangs from Dumbledore's leg calmed the panicky students somewhat, and they turned to face the staff table.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Ludwig shot a side glance at Kiku at the Slytherin table, who was frowning at Dumbledore's statement. He turned to Malfoy and said something that made the pale boy quiver in fear and run to the prefect.

"Gryffindors follow me!" a command was barked from the red-headed prefect, who Ludwig recognised as Ron's older brother.

As they made their way up the staircases, the Gryffindors were muttering among themselves. Feliciano was hugging anyone who got to close out of fright, but mostly he clung tearily to Ludwig, who sighed. He seemed to be sighing a lot lately…

"Wait, you two," Ludwig turned around to see Harry and Ron.

"Vhat is it?" he asked.

"Hermione, she doesn't know about the troll!" Harry told them.

Ludwig briefly scanned their faces, then nodded briefly. The four merged in with a group of panicked Hufflepuffs, who were heading in the opposite direction to the Gryffindors. The managed to slip away using a side corridor and hurried in the direction of the girls bathrooms. They rounded a corner and heard quick footsteps behind them.

"It must be Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin, Ludwig doing the same for Feliciano.

Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"Search me."

After a brief hesitation, they emerged from behind the griffin and continued to the girls bathroom. They turned around another corner and…

SMACK

Feliciano tumbled into a shorter figure. The two fell, and hit the ground with a dull thud.

"F-feli-san please get off me," Feliciano complied, and Ludwig blinked in surprise to see Kiku sprawled out on the ground.

"Kiku? Vhat are you doing here?" he asked.

Kiku stared at him for a moment before answering in his usual somewhat nonchalant way.

"I was making sure that none of the Slytherins who had realised what I did had strayed away from the others," Ludwig tilted his head.

"The troll is in the dungeon yes?" they all nodded, "well so is the Slytherin dorm."

There was a silence, which Ron broke.

"But Dumbledore wouldn't overlook something like that, would he?"

"Well, there are a few hidden passages to the dorms, but the first years wouldn't know that, so they might have panicked and ran off," Kiku explained standing and brushing the dirt from his robe.

"And how do you know?" asked Harry, raising an eyebrow.

Kiku flashed him a small smile,

"I'm good at finding things, now why are you here?"

"We are looking for Hermione, she wasn't at the feast so…" Harry began.

Kiku raised an eyebrow sceptically, but said nothing.

"Vell, while you dummkopfs are standing about, the troll could be nearing Hermione, let's go!" Ludwig took off at a brisk jog, the others tailing after him.

"What's that smell?" Ron's question caused them all to stop.

Indeed a foul smell was reaching them, and Harry wrinkled his nose.

A low grunt and the sound of giant feet shuffling slowly across the ground reached them. They all shrank into the shadows as the moonlight streaming from one of the windows hit the massive figure.

The troll was a large granite grey beast, it had lumpy kind of shape and Feliciano, Ludwig and Kiku's thoughts fell upon a particular British man's cooking.

The troll crouched at a doorway, sniffed, grunted, then entered the room.

"There's a key in the door, we can lock it in!" Harry pointed to where the glint of the key could indeed be seen.

They rushed to the door, and Ludwig frowned. Something told him that locking the troll in was not a good idea. Ron turned the key, and there was satisfactory 'click'

"Yay, now the big troll can't get out!" exclaimed Feliciano.

Ludwig stared at the door, then realization struck him as a high pitched scream was emitted from the room they had just locked the troll into.

"Hermione!"

Ludwig broke down the door at once, proving that locking the troll in the bathroom wouldn't have been all that effective anyway, and the others, bar Feliciano, hurried in after him.

Hermione was cowering against the wall, staring at the troll in horror as it approached her, knocking off sinks and breaking toilets as it went.

"LET THE TORTURE BEGIN!" Ludwig yelled, as he charged the troll.

Before anyone could do anything to try and stop him, Ludwig had slammed his fist into the troll's leg, causing it to emit a low roar of pain.

The others smartly pulled out their wands and directed them at the troll. Ludwig took another swing, but his short reach failed him, and he toppled forward a little, cursing.

"Feli! Do that creepy angry thing like you did with the…" Ron turned around to see the Italian boy cowering pathetically behind Kiku, who was looking awkward from the contact. Either way, Feliciano didn't seem at all terrifying or imposing at the moment.

Ludwig jumped back, barely avoiding the giants club as it hit the ground.

"Move!" he barked at Hermione, who complied.

The troll it seemed, was reacting badly to all the noise, and it roared angrily, turning on Ron, who was now the closest.

Harry saw this and charged the troll in the same manner that Ludwig had, leaving Kiku to help Hermione to her feet and make for the door.

Harry leapt, and somehow managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck. The troll didn't notice at first, but it did notice when Harry's wand slipped, and was jabbed up it's nose when it took a step forward.

Now howling, the troll writhed, flailing it's club around. Harry closed his eyes, and hung on as best he could. Hermione had gone limp with fright, and Kiku was too busy both holding her and avoiding the troll's wide swings with the club. Feliciano was shrieking and clinging to Ludwig so he couldn't move.

Ron however, gulped, aimed his wand at the troll's club, and uttered an incantation.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The troll bought it's hand down, club-less. It blinked and looked up, just in time to see it's club fall from the air, and land with a smack upon it's head.

The troll swayed, then hit the ground, barely missing Kiku and Hermione.

Harry got to his feet shakily, and Feliciano released Ludwig. Hermione stood with Kiku's help and approached the troll.

"Is it, dead?" she asked.

Kiku poked it experimentally with his wand.

"No," he said, "knocked out."

He pulled Harry's wand from the nose of the troll and grimaced as he passed it over to it's owner.

"Ew, troll boogers…" Harry said, wiping the wand on his cloak.

"I.. What?" They all looked up to see professor McGonagall standing at the doorway, a two teachers stood behind her.

"EE! Ludwig, they're scaring me," Feliciano shrunk back behind Ludwig again as the teachers entered the room.

Snape crossed the room with surprising speed and crouched over the troll, inspecting it carefully. Quirrell was also there, though he stood back and whimpered a little, leaving them all to wonder how he had come to be the defence against the dark arts professor.

Professor McGonagall turned to them all, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"What on EARTH where you all thinking of?" she said, her voice trembling with anger, "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look. Harry looked at the floor. He wished Ron would put his wand down.

Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall — they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.

"I went looking for the troll because I — I thought I could deal with it on my own — you know, because I've read all about them."

The room was so quiet, one could've heard a petal drop. They all stared in shocked awe at Hermione, and she trembled a little under McGonagall's piercing gaze.

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Ludwig hit it in the leg and Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. Kiku was carrying me and making sure I didn't get hit. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

If McGonagall was surprised, she didn't show it. Instead, she swept her gaze across the room, Kiku was straight-faced, Ludwig was nodding firmly, Harry and Ron blinked a few times, and nodded. Feliciano, of course, remained cowering behind Ludwig.

Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Hermione left.

McGonagall turned her attention back the others.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win your respective houses five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. Mr. Honda, as you are on your own, you will be escorted to your dormitory by Severus. You all may go."

They all left, Kiku turning and bowing politely, before following Snape to the Slytherin dorms.

"Ludwig, how did you manage to punch a mountain troll without breaking your hand?" asked Ron.

Ludwig blinked a few times,

"Regular training I guess," he shrugged, though he appeared somewhat nervous.

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, and Ludwig increased his pace, leaving no time for discussion. Hermione remained silent until they were safely in the common room where the feast was indeed continuing. She turned to them all, hesitated, then uttered a quick "thanks" before hurrying off to get a few plates.

Feliciano and Ludwig weren't there when she returned, and Harry and Ron explained that they had retired early. Hermione frowned a little at this news. Ludwig had appeared nervous when asked about his punching of the troll, and there was that time when Feliciano had become cold and angry.

There was something up with those two, and Hermione was determined to find out what that something was.

**Arthur is a criminal yay! Don't worry, we'll find out more about that later.**

**Magical bam, thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 8: Pasta, Potions and Ponies

**Yay I did work! The real awesome plot diversion magic stuff happens now. Also, I can't help notice that this story has just reached exactly 69 faves… *snickers* **

**But seriously, thanks for faving/following and reviewing guys, it really means a lot ^_^**

**Let the chaos begin!**

The conversation in the classroom dropped to a low buzz when Snape entered the room. His cloak billowed behind him, and he fixed the class with his black eyes.

All conversation stopped and they all stared up at Snape expectantly. He seemed to be in a fouler mood than usual, but it was hard to tell.

"As you should know, we have a guest speaker in today," he allowed his gaze to drift to the door, "come in."

The door opened with surprising force, swinging back and hitting whoever had opened it. There were a few giggles as a stream of curse words (the non-magical kind) where uttered by the speaker.

The door opened again, and an angry looking man stormed in. He had brown hair with a strange curl that defied gravity and stuck out from his head. He had soft looking caramel eyes, hidden under a scowl, and a few people looked between him and Feliciano, who was smiling at the front of the class.

"This is Lovino Vargas, you will pay him your utmost respe…"

"POTATO BASTARD!" Lovino yelled.

There was a blur of action, and the man was nose to nose with Ludwig, who blinked.

"WHERE THE HELL IS MY IDIOT FRATELLO?" Lovino slammed a hand on the table, causing a few students to jump.

"Mr. Vargas…" said Snape from the front of the classroom.

"Lovi, no! You need your hugs!" Feliciano darted around the desk and held his profanity yelling brother in a hug.

"Dammit Feli, I've had enough of your stupid hug therapy!" Lovino squirmed out of the smaller boys grip, "we're going back now!"

"MR. VARGAS!" Snape yelled.

"EEEI! I'm sorry sir it won't happen again, just don't hurt me!" Lovino hid behind Feliciano who trembled under Snape's gaze.

"Mr. Vargas, you are here to present to the class, not swear at the students," Snape held Lovino in the gaze he usually held aside for Harry.

Lovino straightened up and followed Snape to the front of the class.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Snape shot Lovino a scathing glance, "This is Lovino Vargas. He is a potion maker of great ability and a master in the art of charms."

Lovino glared at the class before speaking.

"Alright, it's as the hook nosed bastard said. I'm going to teach you to make um…." Lovino blinked and chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully, "pasta sauce, with lots of tomatoes."

He strode out to the storage room, Snape staring after him, his facial expression unreadable.

"H-he's joking right?" Ron said to Harry, who shrugged.

"Ludwig, why did he yell at you like that?" asked Hermione curiously.

Ludwig turned and stared at her blankly, then turned away, leaving her with more questions than she had asked.

"Alright you bastards listen up!" Lovino was back, and he had a pot and beside the pot where indeed… tomatoes.

"He can't be seriously making pasta sauce," gasped Ron.

It seemed Feliciano's wish of making pasta in class might come true after all.

"VARGAS!" Lovino jumped again and emitted a high pitched yelp from where he was now hiding beneath Ludwig's table.

"WE WILL NOT BE MAKING PASTA SAUCE IN POTIONS CLASS!" roared Snape.

Lovino responded with a strong of curses and apologies. Ludwig reached under his desk, and hauled the squirming Italian up.

"Lovino can you try not to…" he began.

"Suck my balls you damn potato eater," Lovino waved him aside regaining his former swagger and ignoring the collective intake of breath.

"VARGAS, GET TO THE FRONT OF THE CLASSROOM NOW!"

Lovino seemingly materialised beside Snape and began trembling again. Snape swept the tomatoes off the table, glaring at Lovino, only to realise that the Italian was still trembling, but not of fear.

"HOOK-NOSED BASTARD, THEY WHERE PERFECTLY FINE TOMATOES!" he yelled, "NOW THEY'LL BE BRUISED AND UNSUABLE!"

The look of surprise on Snape's face was priceless, even Kiku was biting back a smile. The two potion masters stood, glaring at each other, before Snape turned, and left the classroom, entering his office.

The students, now trapped in a room with a raging Italian, exchanged brief mutters of concern.

"Whatever damn bastard," Lovino hissed, re-entering the storage room, and this time returning with an armful of potion ingredients, "Now, I don't want you idiotas to ask questions unless you're failing miserably, Potato Bastard is not to enter a five meter radius of me, and my idiot brother is to meet me after class, understood?"

He fixated them all with a death glare, causing most of the students to forget that this man was only recently trembling under a table.

"Good, page 136"

Lovino went to his table and began chopping up nirnroot, ignoring the rising level of muttering.

The class proceeded almost normally after that, with the exception of the absence of Snape breathing down their necks. At least, it proceeded normally until Ludwig accidently entered the five meter radius, and Lovino pulled out what some students recognised to be a grenade.

The class ended when Lovino threw the pin at Ludwig, and they were forced to evacuate the classroom as Ludwig yanked the now active grenade from Lovino's mouth and threw it out the window.

"Bloody hell, the guy's a psycho!" exclaimed Ron, "is it really okay to leave those three in the same room as him?"

"He may be a little… odd, but I'm sure he won't try to harm Feliciano, they're brothers after all," said Hermione, though even she was glancing at the door nervously.

On the other side of said door, Lovino was sitting at the table, facing Ludwig, Kiku and Feliciano.

"Vell you see the thing is…" began Ludwig.

"Shut it bastard," grumbled Lovino, pulling another piece of shrapnel from his hair, "you dragged my stupid brother to this stupid school."

"Um, Lovino-san, it was actually my idea," said Kiku, fidgeting, "I wanted to learn more about Arthur-san's magic and I thought it would be nice for these two to come with me…"

Lovino glared at him for a moment, then grabbed a tomato from the table, and bit into it.

"Lovino, I have already informed Kiku and Feli, but I ran into Feliks in the castle," said Ludwig.

Lovino didn't seem too surprised,

"Yeah, he vanished a while ago, we were wondering what had happened to that bastard," Lovino took another thoughtful bite from his tomato, "was Toris with him?"

Ludwig blinked,

"T-Toris? No, I don't believe I saw him."

"Whatever damn Potato, you must be blind. He must've been with Feliks."

"Toris went missing too?" asked Feliciano, "Maybe he'll be there with Feliks when we meet then today…"

"Hai, speaking of which, Lovino-san should come with us," Kiku looked up at Lovino, "it would be good for us to have a teacher of sorts accompanying us to the forest."

Lovino leaned back in his chair, tipping it and swearing as he fell backwards.

"Stronzo! Whatever bastards I'll go with you, non me ne frega un cazzo."

Feliciano cringed at his brother's language, and decided it best not to translate to the other two.

"Ve shall meet you at the entrance hall after our last class, don't be late," Ludwig stood and turned to leave.

"Feli, I forgot to tell you, after I finish giving these stupid lectures, you're coming back with me," Lovino called after them.

Feliciano placed his hands over his ears and ran out of the classroom exclaiming,

"Sorry fratello, I can't hear you, and I've got to go!"

Lovino yelled a few more curse words after them, but didn't follow.

Sighing, he grabbed another tomato and ate it.

This was going to be a long day.

"Oi, England, you finally decided to start reliving your pirate days did you?"

England sighed and put down his teacup as Wales opened the door and entered.

"What do you want Wales?" he asked irritably, "I'm currently in the middle of some important paperwork regarding the last meeting. I don't have time for…."

England's green eyes fell upon the newspaper cut-out in his elder brother's hand, and he frowned as he caught a glimpse of the title.

"What's that article?" he asked.

Wales raised a questioning eyebrow,

"You mean, you didn't know already?"

Wales handed him the article, and watched with a rather amused expression as England's large eyebrows climbed up him face, a pale blush covering his cheeks.

"W-Wales, this article is about…."

Wales quickly grabbed the piece of paper and flipped it before England could read further. England shook his head and ground his teeth.

With a yelp he threw the paper on the ground although it had burned him.

"They're accusing me? Of theft? What the bloody hell was the ministry thinking?" he yelled, before leaning his forehead against his fist, "It must've been the day I was buying supplies for the others…"

Wales covered his face to hide his growing smirk.

"Wait until Scotty hears about this. He's going to give you hell," he said, enjoying the changing expressions on England's face.

"Bloody hell, this was in the prophet wasn't it?" Wales nodded and England sighed, "I won't be able to contact the others at this rate, and it's going to be damn near impossible for me to go out and search for the two missing countries…"

"Oh, I heard that a blond man fitting Poland's description was spotted in Hogsmead recently, it might be something to look into," mused Wales, "I'll let Scotty know, it's in his territory after all."

England nodded, searching through the papers on his desk and pulling out a pale pink folder with Poland's picture and human name clipped onto it. He opened the folder and pulled out a piece of paper.

"When was he seen?"

"Yesterday."

England nodded and scribbled something down, before placing the paper back in the folder and handing it to Wales.

"As much as I am loath to leave this case in your hands, I am not in the mood for a trip to Azkaban," He hesitated, before handing Wales another folder, "take Lithuania's too, you might need it."

Wales opened the folder and checked i's contents, before nodding curtly.

"Looks like little Iggy's been busy collecting information," he teased, "well I'll send it over to Scotty. You'd best go into hiding now that I think about it. I was talking to a few ministry members the other day, they consider a greater threat then they let on. You really ought to stop getting drunk, you won't try to summon things as much then."

With an easy laugh Wales left the room, closing the door just in time to avoid a scone to the head.

They found Feliks standing in Hagrid's pumpkin patch, waiting for them with a bored scowl on his face.

"You guys took like, forever to get here!" he exclaimed, "You don't know how boring it is to stand around waiting for you guys!"

He shifted his weight and crossed his arms.

"So, where is zis, uh, hideout?" asked Ludwig impatiently.

Feliks smiled and twirled around, "follow me."

They took off through the forbidden forest, mostly ignoring the dark and foreboding atmosphere. Mostly, both Feliciano and Lovino where both clutching Ludwig, whimpering in fear. Feliciano was holding a white flag, waving it about meekly to reassure himself. Feliks managed to avoid the branches and cobwebs, but the others found themselves tangled up, with twigs snagging in their clothes in hair, (which occasionally invoked a questionable reaction in the Italian brothers).

"Ano, what is that colour up ahead?" asked Kiku, pointing to a space ahead of them, that indeed seemed to be brightly coloured.

Feliks smiled knowingly,

"You'll find out soon enough."

The colour turned out to be the brightly painted walls of some kind of shack, standing out in the dim forest.

"This is your hideout?" Ludwig deadpanned.

Feliks nodded, "Yeah, home sweet home. Wait 'till you guys like, see the inside!"

He opened the door and beckoned them into the shack, also brightly coloured. Poland's pony was lying contently in the middle of the room, and nickered to Poland as they entered.

"I-it's very nice Poland-san," said Japan, "very colourful."

"It took me like, aaages to make it like this, but it was worth it," Poland threw himself onto the couch.

"Veh~ Germany I'm hungry!" whined Italy, prodding Germany in the arm.

"Idiot fratello, don't speak to that potato bastard!" Romano yelled.

Germany sighed in irritation and approached Poland, who was reclining on the salmon coloured couch.

"So, vill you tell us more about zis stone?" he asked, the others quietening down to listen.

"Eh, well I guess," Poland took a deep breath, "there's like, this awesome stone, which can turn stuff to gold, as well as create some elixir which can make you immortal, like us."

There was an intake of breath, all eyes were on Poland now.

"I managed to um, find out that the stone had been taken to this like, castle school thing. I think it'd be useful for like war debts and stuff," he gave Germany a meaningful look, "So I think we should like, try to find this thing."

"Um Poland-san, where did you find this out?" asked Japan curiously.

"Sources, it doesn't matter," Poland waved it off, and that was enough for most of the others.

Japan narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but refrained from asking anything more.

"Ve~ So we can team up to look for it right?" asked Feliciano.

"Yeah, I was thinking we like, check for secret passages," said Poland, "I heard from a few rumours from the kids in Hogsmead that there's one by the drabby shack thing."

"So you think we should check there first?" asked Germany.

Poland nodded,

"You guys can like, have today to get prepared, we can meet tomorrow to check it out."

The other countries nodded in agreement, except for Lovino, who just sat there scowling.

"Ve should go, before we get caught out here," Germany said, standing and making for the door, "I trust we will meet after dark tomorrow, same place."

The countries filed outside, but Japan hesitated in the doorway.

"I apologise for asking any questions, but where is Lithuania-san?" he asked nervously.

Poland stiffened,

"I'll see you tomorrow."

He pushed Japan out the door and slammed it behind him.

Poland kneeled next to Poni and stroked it's mane.

"Liet will be okay, I just need to do this one thing," he took a shaky breath, "he's like, to careful to get in any big trouble right?"

Poni nuzzled his palm, nickering reassuringly.

"Yup, you're right," Poland grinned, his swagger returning, "let's just get his crapski over with and go home."

**Oh noes, where is Liet?**

**Yup, once again, I apologise for bad grammar, spelling and general bad writing that may occur in this story. I'm a little too lazy/busy to proofread.**

**Also, I won't be able to write to much as I have exams next week, and as much as I loathe it, I really do need to study.**

**'Till next time, adieu!**

**Fratello: brother (Italian)**

**Crapski: me failing at Polish (when it doubt add 'ski' to the end ^_^' )**

**Lovino's language: I'll let you use your imagination, or search it up. Your choice**


	10. Chapter 9: Depths of the Earth

**I have one thing to say here.**

**Burgers**

**That is all.**

Feliks was waiting for them with an irritated pout on his face.

"You guys took like, forever! You don't know who _dull_ it is waiting here," he said crossly, "I had to take to finding my own forms of entertainment 'till you turned up."

Ludwig flinched and glanced at the now bright pink hut just outside the border of the woods.

"I don't imagine zat the owner vill be so pleased…" he muttered.

Feliks just shrugged indifferently,

"not my problem, the place was just so boring."

"Veh~ I think it looks great, it just needs more pasta!" Feliciano smiled at Feliks.

"Feli-kun, I don't think that pasta is a corour…" whispered Kiku, flinching somewhat as Feliciano's face fell.

"B-but!"

"Ve are getting off track.." began Ludwig.

"Shut it you damn potato eater, I don't want to have to listen to your stupid voice," grumbled Lovino.

"Lovino-san, I do not mean to be rude, but that was imporite," said Kiku, "you should aporogise."

Lovino rounded on Kiku.

"I'm not apologising to the potato bastard!" he yelled, "it's his fault anyway!"

"Like, you shouldn't be so loud, you'll attract attention."

"Like you don't, cross-dressing bastard!"

"Pasta!"

"Prease, Lovino-san, calm down!"

"veh~, Kiku what's the difference between san and kun?"

"Don't ask stupid questions idiota!"

Ludwig felt his anger rising with every word.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP! VE ARE HERE TO INVESTIGATE ZE LOCATION OF ZE PHILOSPHERS STONE, NOT TO INDULGE IN IDLE CHITCHAT!"

Silence fell upon the group, all eyes focused on Ludwig, who was trembling with rage.

"'s anyone there?" it was the groundskeeper, Hagrid.

"Kso! Everyone, prease get down," Kiku dropped to the ground, followed closely by Feliks and Ludwig, who dragged Feliciano down with him. Lovino hid behind a tree.

Ludwig mentally cursed his own stupidity for shouting. They listened to the Hagrid's heavy footsteps. A light shone over their heads and Ludwig held his breath.

"'m goi'n to 'ave to talk to Dumbledore 'bout this, first some crazy man come 'n paints my 'ouse pink, now I can hear things shoutin' in the woods..." Hagrid's footsteps trailed off and Ludwig shot a glare at Feliks who grinned sheepishly.

"Alright, count off, ve need to see if anyone is missing," he ordered, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt from his cloak.

"Uno"

"Ni"

"Trzy"

Silence.

"Lovino?"

Ludwig frowned and rounded the tree that the grumpy Italian had hid behind.

"Vell, I think ve found the entrance you vere talking about Feliks," He gulped as he stared down the dark hole that had seemingly opened up out of nowhere.

He could see marks of disturbance around the entrance of the hole, which could only mean that Lovino had, in his carelessness, slipped and fell.

"Is there a spell for light?" Ludwig asked Kiku, who nodded.

"Lumos," the tip of Kiku's wand lit up the dark forest, "I sharr lead."

Ludwig stepped to the side to allow Kiku to pass. The shorter asian stopped nodded, and slid down the hole. Feliks followed him, grumbling. Ludwig turned to Feliciano.

"Stay close to me and DON'T wander off, got it?"

Feliciano nodded nervously and stepped closer to Ludwig.

Ludwig took a deep breath and approached to hole. He could see the dim light from Kiku's wand glowing in the darkness.

"Let's go."

**##################**

The tunnel was dark and cramped. Japan bit the inside of his lip, ignoring the growing sense of dread welling up within him. The damp scent of the earth clogged his nostrils and restricted his breathing.

Japan shook his head and glanced at the fresh footprints on the ground that could only belong to Romano.

"MOTHER F-" A loud yell reverberated throughout the tunnel.

"Fratello?" Italy called out nervously. There was no response.

Japan shivered, the feeling had dread had not left. If anything it was now entrapping him. Was this one of the forms of protection set up for the stone?

"Let's hurry," hissed Germany from beside Japan.

"I mean no offence, but I think we shourd take caution and move slowly," whispered Japan.

Either Germany didn't hear him, or he was too intent in getting to the stone to take heed. Japan glanced at Poland, who had been unnaturally quiet. Japan frowned, now that he thought about it, Poland had been acting strangely for a while now.

"Japan, come here," It was Germany.

Japan hurried to catch up with the German.

"What is-" Germany covered Japan's mouth and motioned him to be silent.

Japan obliged and Germany released him. They crept around a sharp bend and Japan's eyes narrowed.

Romano was slumped against a wall, bleeding from a gash on his arm. Around him, strange coins were scattered across the ground. Japan vaguely heard Italy and Poland gasp behind him, and Germany hurriedly quietening them both. Japan slipped around the corner and knelt beside him, checking him over for any further damage.

Italy hurried to join Japan at his brother's side.

"F-fratello?" Italy whimpered, clutching Romano's hand.

"V-veneziano..." Romano's eyes opened groggily and he pushed himself off the ground, "wha?"

Japan was about to say something when he realised that Romano's wound was not healing as it should.

"Romano-san, is your economy alright?" he asked quietly.

"It's not perfect, " said both Italies at the same time, "but nothing worry about."

Japan frowned and glanced at Germany, who was now approaching slowly followed by a blank-faced Poland.

"It's not here…" said Poland suddenly, green eyes darting around the tunnel, "dammit, we need to get out!"

Poland started backing up, an almost wild look in his eyes.

"Out, out OUT!"

Poland turned and fled, leaving the others to watch his retreating back. Japan rose to his feet and pointed his wand toward the darkness.

"D-Doitsu-san I think we should go," he said quietly.

"Nein, we have yet to check the whole tunnel," said Germany stoically, "Ve don't need Poland to help find it."

"Doitsu…"

A cold breeze rushed past them, and Italy shivered nervously, hugging Romano.

"Germany I want to go back," he whimpered.

"Damn potato let's just leave already," Romano growled pulling himself and Italy to his feet.

"Nei-" Germany was cut off by a low growling sound.

"Itay, Romano, Japan, wands out, now!"

Italy and Romano pulled out their wands and backed into the wall. Japan squinted into the darkness, making out a hulking figure approaching them.

Romano's eyes widened,

"It's the crazy wolf bastard, Japan back up that thing is strong!" he yelled, pointing his wand wildly at the figure.

Japan cursed his foolishness at leaving his katana behind. All he had now was essentially a flimsy stick which he barely knew how to use.

As the creature came closer, Japan was able to make out it's snarling wolf-like face.

"Werewolf," he muttered, "but it isn't…"

The werewolf leapt, snapping jaws barely missing Japan's shoulder. He ducked and rolled back, until he was side to side with Germany.

"Let ze torture begin!" roared Germany, slamming a fist into the body of the werewolf as it attacked.

Japan flashed Germany a brief smile and seemingly vanished, reappearing behind the werewolf and kicking so that it fell forward, yelping in pain.

It recovered quickly snarling in rage. It went for Italy and Romano, who both screeched pathetically. Germany grabbed the beast by it's hind leg and dragging it back. The werewolf snarled and turned, clamping it's strong jaws around Germany's wrist.

Ignoring the horrified yelp of Romano, Germany kneed the werewolf in the bottom jaw, forcing it to release him. Japan brought down his hand on the werewolf's back and it crumpled in a heap on the ground.

"Potato bastard got bit!" yelled Romano, hiding behind Italy, looking at Germany although he was expecting him to turn into a blood thirsty creature of the night as he spoke.

Germany just shot him an irritated glance and turned to Japan, who was staring at the werewolf with a quizzical frown.

The werewolf twitched once, then melted into the ground.

Italy and Romano jumped back, clutching each other in fear.

"As I thought, this was just a summoned beast made to repricate a werewolf," commented Japan dryly, "it teeth and craws must have had magicar properties, which wourd explain why neither Romano nor Doitsu's injuries have healed yet."

Romano grimaced, "don't associate me with that potato head."  
"I aporogise Romano-san, but it was just an observation."

Germany nodded, crossing his arms.

"Ve are going to have to be cautious if ve continue, who knows how many more of these thing's there are down here," he said.

"Doitsu, I don't believe we wirr find anything down here," commented Japan, "look."

Japan picked up a rock from the ground and threw it into the darkness, where they could hear it thud against an invisible wall, before hissing and disappearing.

"The empty corridor is just an illusion."

Germany frowned,

"How do you know zis?"

Japan pointed to his robes, where a significant piece of fabric had seemingly been burnt off, "I armost hit the wall when attacking the creature."

"Veh~ why would anyone put this place down here then?" asked Italy nervously.

"Did any of you notice the indent in the wall over there?" asked Japan, waving his hand vaguely to an area of wall above Italy and Romano's head, "I think someone might have hidden something there, but…"

Japan blushed and looked at his feet and mumbled something.

"What was that Japan?" asked Italy.

"Too short…"Japan muttered, "doesn't help that we are arr the same size as rittle kids either..."

"Actually Japan-" Germany began, then stopped himself. Pointing out that Japan had always been about as tall as a fourteen year old girl and was more like a nine year old now probably wouldn't do well to improve his mood.

Instead, Germany sighed and peered into the notch in the wall. Something small glittered inside, and Germany fished it out.

"It's a stone, but..." Germany frowned, "it doesn't match the description of the one we're looking for."

Germany held the rounded blue stone for Japan to inspect. Japan took the stone, and winced as it's cold surface touched his skin. He carefully stowed it away into the pocket, and glanced at the Italians, who had not quite gotten over the shock of being attacked by a werewolf look alike, and where making high-pitched whimpering noises.

"I think we ought to follow Poland, he seemed…. Upset," Germany muttered, helping Italy to his feet and offering his hand to Romano, who bit it.

Germany cursed and turned to Japan, who had already left. Sighing and cradling his now injured hand, Germany followed Japan to the exit of the tunnel

**Yay crappy ending time! Seriously, that ending sucks, but what could I do, I was being hit by laptops for writing slowly by a certain someone *cough*Fae*cough***


End file.
